trump did know in advance about the infamous trump tower meeting. we have new reaction this hour to cnn's reporting as mr. trump stands by his denial and rails against michael cohen. >>> putin's proposal. the kremlin boss reveals he invited president trump to visit moscow during their secret summit talks in helsinki. why did we hear about it from vladimir putin and not donald trump? >>> deadly inferno, walls of flames are ravaging a northern california city, forcing thousands to evacuate. cnn is on the scene of this now out-of-control disaster. >>> and awkward. a picture worth a thousand words, as special counsel robert mueller spotted at the d.c. airport just a few feet away from donald trump jr. >>> we want to welcome our viewers from the united states and around the world. wolf blitzer is off today and you're in "the situation room." >>> tonight president trump and his long-time fixer at war over the truth about the 2016 trump tower meeting with russians. the president disputing michael cohen's claims that he knew in advance of that meeting with

trump knew of the trump tower meeting ahead of time, do you believe mr. cohen or mr. trump?> under normal circumstances if you told me that the trump organization even though it was the campaign here was going to host someone connected with the algarov, i would say likely the president now president then mr. trump would have been made aware. with that said, it is important here that michael also says he doesn't have a tape of this conversation according to the cnn reporting. so, it seems a little that we're not going to know. it is one word against another word here. >> but you know both people. >> right. >> you're familiar with the dynamics of the two men. what is your take? what is your guess? >> my best guess is that the president certainly was made aware after the fact that this meeting was a complete bust and it was because if you look the lawyer natalia, the russian lawyer who previously not allowed into the country by a cnn contributor, representing somebody connected to the maninski and representing an issue of the person who putin spoken about in directing with bill

trump's triumph with fox ended with roger ailes out, and he was advising trump's campaign, ask trumpchannel. donald trump knows transactional relationships, he went on to hire numerous fox personalities, some of those whom trump has not hired are the most influential, consider sean hannity who first recommended this news tonight, first pushing the hiring of bill shine, hannity arranging private meetings for them at mar-a-lago. then he used his own show to push this idea forward. >> ex-fox news boss bill shine in talks to become next white house communications director. if that's true, i think it would be great because he's great at his job. and he's one of the smartest people i've ever known and one of the nicest people i've ever known. as far as what i know about it, it's -- if i did know anything, it's none of your business anyway. >> what? it's none of your business. that's sean hannity telling his own audience that his inside information isn't theirs to hear, a confession that he will literally keep secrets for his political allies out of an apparent loyalty against the interests

trump. the assertion that trump had knowledge of the meeting before it took place suggest he approved getting help from a foreign power. that means trump's repeated claim of no collusion, it would appear that he would be more than willing to do so. knew about the meeting until it was revealed in news report last summer. asked whether he was awe are of it last july, he told routers, no. i didn't know. let's listen. >> did you know at the time that they had the meeting? >> no, i didn't know anything about the meeting. it must have been a very unimportant meeting because i never heard about it. >> no one told you a word, nothing. >> nobody told me. it sounded like a very unimportant meeting. >> the revelation contradicts the president's son who said this after the meeting broke last july. >> a lot of people are going to want to know this about your father. do you tell your father anything about this? >> it was such a nothing, there was nothing to tell. >> donald trump jr. could now face legal j

between michael cohen acting as donald trump's personal lawyer in trump tower in donald trump's office in trump tower two months before the presidential election. let's listen to michael cohen describing to donald trump what he believes he had to do to create a company to pay substantial amounts of money for the silence of a woman who claims she had a one-year sexual relationship with donald trump. let's listen to that tape. >> i need to open up a company for the transfer of of all of that info regarding our friend david. i'm going to do that right away. i've spoken to allen weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up with -- >> so what do we got to pay for this? 150? >> funding -- yes. and it's all the stuff. >> yeah, i was thinking about that. >> all the stuff. because here you never know where that company -- >> maybe he gets hit by a truck. >> correct. and i'm all over that. and i spoke to allen about it. when it comes time for the financing, which will be -- >> wait a sec, what financing? >> we'll have to pay him something. >> pay with cash. >> no, no, no, no. i got it. >> che

trump. but we have no idea what the first lady of the united states actually thinks about the president of the united states being caught on tape discussing a payoff to one of those women because the third mrs. trump has said absolutely nothing about her husband today. she has not rushed to his defense. she has not denied creating tension for the president and his staff on air force one by refusing to watch fox news. no one who knows donald trump best is defending donald trump tonight about what we heard on michael cohen's recording. and that is always a very important thing to watch, watch for when a politician is in sex scandal trouble. who is standing up and say i know donald trump, and he would never do that? donald trump's three adult children by the first please trump who spring to his defense in every situation are silent in the middle of michael cohen's tape crisis. not one has stepped forward and said i know my father better than anyone, including his third wife and i can tell you m

it was trump signing the checks and weissleberg giving trump the checks to sign. when you get two different people from an organization testifying separately before a grand jury, that makes both of them really nervous. and that's exactly what bob mueller and the feds want to do here. the big picture here, ari, don't forget, the big question is, did donald trump and his organization collude with the russians, and are they covering that up? i've always thought, and i have reason to think that the theory of mueller's case is follow the money, going back to watergate, follow the money. where is the russian money? how did the russian money get in here. this is one of the things tim looked into. where does the russian money come from, and how does the russian money, prevalent in the late '90s, how did that money affect donald trump's behavior and cooperation with russians, if at all, in the campaign? so mueller's going deep here. the feds are going deep. and now they're getting to the people who really, really know. as tim points out, weissleberg is a guy who knows ever

trump's help in all these things. how much of that laundry list do you think trump is willing to help him with? >> the concern with the story is a huge hole at the middle of it in the sense of trump and putin will meet one-on-one. we have been told there is no agenda. nobody in the room except interpreters. there is not press conference afterwards. there is a speech made, but no press. we really will never know what was said. we have concerns of what might be said. rewind back to the beginning of the trump presidency when steve bannon and mike flynn still in the white house. the idea that ukraine or crimea may be recognized as russian and in return, some deal done in the middle east. that idea went way when bannon and flynn came out and john kelly came in. we seem to be back where we were at the beginning of 2017 with the idea that maybe some kind of grand deal that can be done involving the middle east. i don't know what that would look like. it is certainly is something allies are concerned about. >> thank you, john

he sees trump as a rich guy. in oligarch can is in russia, you're allowed as a rich person made rich by russia, to do whatever it is you want. i think that putin and russia helped enrich donald trump over the years. i think that's the kompromat, the compromising information that might be held over donald trump during these meetings. that's my concern. that's the worst case scenario that i would have for this. >> so let me ask both of you to sort of weigh in on the bigger picture. i understand what you're saying about the psychology between the experience president putin and how they may treat each other. but on the big issues you say we don't need russia much. clearly russia backed by and with virn created the longevity of assad and backed one of the worst dictators, the most brutal murderer that we're dealing with on an international stage right now. the annexation of crimea and destabilization of the western alliance. just a week or so ago, at russians did mock exercises 70 kilometers from hel sink can i just t

trump: nobody thought., when a bad person -- maybe a federal employee, in this case -- but somebody bad mistreats or neglects or abuses our great veterans in their time of need, we can turn to them, look at them in the eye, and say, "you're fired. get out! get out!" [applause] pres. trump: before, there was nothing you could do. you had to live with these people. we've gotten rid of a lot of people over the last year. only the bad ones. the good ones we cherish. we cherish the good ones. but we had some bad apples, and they're gone. as promised, we established the white house va hotline, and every va medical center now offers same-day emergency mental healthcare. something very important. [applause] pres. trump: we're greatly expanding tele-health and walk-in clinics so our veterans can get anywhere at any time -- they can get what they need. they can learn about the problem. and they don't have to necessarily drive long distances and wait. we are also -- it's been a very big success. [applause] pres. trump

to trump tower. that was the origin of alternative fact. we're hearing a similar claim now where he is accusing the fbi of having spied on him while i candidate. some of this feels very rinse and repeat. >> guest: it absolutely is. the russian investigation, he's been going after the fbi since essentially his first day in office when you tweets about what a leading income of nazi germany? this isn't a new thing. he knew something was happening at a think as soon as he got in office he decided i'm going to start going after the fbi. then you see them saying i fired, after james comey an interview with lester holt, i fired him because of russia that there's nothing to do. that is such a classic advance and deny statement. i fired him because of russia, advanced vacuum but unite because there's nothing to it. so he's been on this for a long time. i do think this one is a little bit different because it's defensive gaslighting. he is subject to whatever the fbi puts out, whatever investigator more puts o

>> the meeting with trump? >> yes. >> if you meant the meeting with trump, yes, he will because the fact of the meeting itself shows a respect, if you like, for the russian president which he hasmied before. secondly, if the president tweets the way he does saying everybody's made mistakes but i'm going to set it all right, that implies something will happen. what i don't know. >> ambassador, thanks so much for joining us from london. >> president trump plans to bring up russia's election interference in the 2016. we are told. but will actions back up those words. we'll look at how the indictments of russian spies may affect the talks. stay with us. does your business internet provider promise a lot? let's see who delivers more. comcast business gives you gig-speed in more places. the others don't. we offer up to 6 hours of 4g wireless network backup. everyone else, no way. we let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. them, not so much. we let you keep an eye on your business from anywh

, numbers of the trump campaign, numbers of the trump campaign and potentially trump himself.ment of all of this. there hasn't been any proven collusion. i think thatis been any proven collusion. i think that is the important word, there is no proof so far of collusion with the trump campaign. no proof so far of collusion with the trump campaignlj no proof so far of collusion with the trump campaign. i wouldn't exactly say that. i would say the special council hasn't invited anyone. but already available in the media, there is a lot of information about different contacts, but several members of the trump campaign had all the trump family had. 0ne campaign had all the trump family had. one of them, for example, was donald trump jr, donald had. one of them, for example, was donald trumer, donald trump's son, emailing with a representative of the russian representative, somebody who was representing the russian government, who offered hacked information on hillary clinton and donald trump jr said he information on hillary clinton and donald trumer said he loved it and recommende

, donald trump's father.our thoughts? >> i think the statements outside of donald trump, jr. it is possible that he committed perjury when he testified. and i think that's most significant but perhaps the announcement of the 4.1 gdp where we are this year as we head into the midterm elections to quote james carville, it's the economy. and it's doing well because the economy is doing well. >> and what did you want to say? >> i was just going to say the economy is doing great in this quarter but i don't think that's reflecting any polling numbers in ohio, michigan, arizona or wisconsin where republicans should be doing better. >> i'm going to beg the question to you, what do you think is not getting as much attention as it deserves? >> you know, to turn our eye abroad, the u.s. state department senior diplomats who handle south asia, they are negotiating or are actually having talks with the taliban, one-on-one talks in douha, qata. that's not getting attention. we have 15,000 american troops in afghanistan. a

voters in blue wall state in trump country rate trump on the economy.tates. this ismy p michigamichigan, wi minnesota say the committeecono improved. a fourth say it's not improved. what's breaking through? >> i don't really think the big gdp number that we got today is breaking through in the way that trump and the white house would like it to because we just have this long term structural inequality problem in america. people understand that in the form of their paychecks in they hear gdp is going up 4%. they hear the stock market is going up big time. they recognize their paycheck in real terms has been pretty flat. that doesn't mean people aren't benefitting from a strong labor market. there's more job quantity than quality. given the range of the statistics that you just rattled off, you'd think that the folks impression would be better than it is. it's not hurting the president by a long time. it's not as much as it would if it were reaching more people. >> how are the democrats seizing on the message the fight against donald trumps. >> it's about

trump didn't repay pecker. that's what team trump wants you to know.roof is that they discussed a payment in the transcript, but there's no proof of that payment being made. first, incomplete information. just one tape. one piece of potential proof. second, how do we know pecker didn't expect to be repaid, that he thought he was going to get paid back and trump just rooked him the way he has done with others he's owed money in business? there's that question. the point is these tapes, i know that they are so salacious, and that's why the media is all over them. but at the bottom, they are more heat than light, and they are surely a distraction from the russia story. so be aware. and what we're going to do now is we're going to get past the headlines, and we're going to debate what the tapes mean legally. the lawyers have arrived. cuomo's court is in session, next. my digestive system used to make me feel sluggish but now, i take metamucil every day. it traps and removes the waste that weighs me down, so i feel lighter. try metamucil, and begin to feel

amy: the trump-putin summit. first, the 90 minute one-on-one meeting trouble hold with russian president vladimir putin in helsinki were only their translators will attend the meeting. he faces pressure to confront putin over kremlin meddling in among otherction, issues. we will host a debate on u.s.-russia relations with pulitzer prize-winning journalist glenn greenwald, just back from russia visiting edward snowden, and joe cirincione, president of the plowshares fund. at first, we look at protests that greeted both trump and putin in finland. world leaders are not really paying attention to our real global challenges such as climate change, p poverty, degradation on the environment. amongssage will be, others, that this is not only about geopolitics, this is really about global challenges. amy: we will speak with finnish mp heidi hautala of the european parliament from finland and a member of the green league come a part of the european green party. all of that in more, coming up. welcome to demococracy now!,

verses of donald trump jr.aid and sarah sanders, at some point all those stories don't match, all of those stories will be in trouble. a lot of these investigative situations, people don't go line for the over line crime, they go down for an under line obstruction or perjury or lying to committee or something like that. this whole thing has been unfolding. that's what i have been wondering about. who has said what to what committee or under oath. >> let's just put aside tonight's breaking news and you consider the different story that's been told of this meeting and they denied he had anything to do of the drafting and hope hicks and on and on. do you believe any of this at this point? their explanations. do you believe the president did not know anything about this meeting? >> i don't know who to believe. i heard a lot of explanations about this meeting and shifting stories. i don't find several of the people involved in it and credible of what they have said. i don't know what to believe. i do know this. when

trump. good evening to you. >> joe, give me a reaction to the news. >> not surprising. first of all. i don't for the a second believe donald trump didn't know about the meeting his son was going to. regarding bomb shell information against his opponent. it doesn't sound credible. but, for the purpose of this he said she said credibility that is going to become the focal point of the perhaps the mueller investigation. because it's about collusion. the question will be does michael cohen have supporting information. does he have corroborative information. many said you can't just believe anything he's going say now he's under the gun. generally when people are under the gun they're looking for a way out. and sometimes it's providing informs to get something in return. that being said, rudy giuliani say he's been lying for years is probably not what he meant to say. i wouldn't have said that if i were representing donald trump. he's been his lawyer for years. his sole client. his employee. >> l

donald trump and everyone in the trump white house know that most americans know that donald trump is an uncontrollable liar. the president knew he had no hope of convincing most voters today that he didn't mean to say what he said yesterday. the president knows that most voters, most americans, most children are way too smart to fall for the lie that donald trump told today. but donald trump must not see his voters that way. former cia director john brennan yesterday said that president trump's comments yesterday why wr imbecilic. and today donald trump took imbecilic to a whole new level. he gave his voters an intelligence test that he seems to be very confident they will not pass, cannot pass. he said that he forgot to say one word yesterday that would completely reverse the meaning of one sentence that he said yesterday. the line that donald trump changed today came in the middle of his response to this question, which definitely was not an actual answer to the question. >> would you now, with the whole world watching, tell president putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016

trump without mr. trump knowing about it.of the overall structure is that michael had great latitude to take care of matters. >> reporter: in 2011, michael cohen described his job this way. >> my job is i protect mr. trump. that's what it is. if there's an issue that relates to mr. trump that is of concern to him, it's of course of concern to me. and i will use my legal skills within which to protect mr. trump to the best of my ability. >> it's going to be my absolute pleasure to serve you with a $500 million lawsuit. >> reporter: often with threats as in this 2015 conversation with a reporter. >> i'm warning you. tread very [ bleep ] lightly because what i'm going to do to you is going to be [ bleep ] disgusting. do you understand me? >> this is also part of the trump-cohen method is you skate on the edge of what's reasonable. everyone else walks up to it as if they're walking up to an electric fence, and they back off before they get shocked. michael has that quality. he is a person that will risk getting electrocuted if it

meetings with donald trump.nd then president trump threw in a last line today to end the press conference with a trumpian dash of incoherence. >> and if anybody watched peter strzok testify over the last couple of days -- and i was in brussels watching it -- it was a disgrace to the fbi. it was a disgrace to our country and you would say that was a total witch hunt. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. >> and so the final three words of the president's summit with vladimir putin were total witch hunt. joining us now is the former undersecretary of state in the obama administration. and former cia chief of staff and a former director of the obama white house situation room. he's currently director of the haden center. and these are challenging nights for programs like this because we really are tonight the first draft of history, and this was a historic day. with your experience, i simply want to give you an open opportunity to react to what you saw today. >> well, i think i felt, as most have today, includ

trump on financial arrangements and mr. trump is engaged in the discussion. here's why all this matters. trump's camign ahead ohe election had denied the candidate had any knowledge of payments to the model, karen mcdougle. it also raises questions aboutam possibleign finance law violations and it shows cohen is willing to share tapes of his old boss. josh, we have been covering president trump for some time. we would go to trump tower, there would be michael cohen, theeeixer. to him break like this and release the recording, what does it mean f this white house? joshua: it's shocking, first of as beencause cohen associated as trump's fixer, protector, lackey, and attack reporters,ing with going back years. so the fact that he's broken a is openly flouting the material he declines have on trump -- claims to have on trump, not o just the tape but according to cnn, over 100 tapes of recorded conversations, means he's potentially a very valuable witness against trump should bob mueller, special counsel, and investigators, decide to bring him in and offer him a d

this is not just trump being trump. this is something no president in repeat history has done. >> president putin did you want president trump to win the election, and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? >> translator: because he talked about bringing in the right u.s., russia relationship back to normal. >> but president trump, he's rather talk about hillary clinton's e-mails. and we know what happened the last time he did that. >> what happened to hillary clinton's e-mails, 33,000 e-mails gone. just gone. i think in russia they wouldn't be gone so easily. i think it's a disgrace that we can't get hillary clinton's e33,000 e-mails. i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. and what he did was an incredible offer. he offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. i think that's an incredible offer, okay? >> sorry. it's not fun

june 9th, first came out, donald trump jr., trump knew nothing.d he learned of it later. trump learned of it later. trump again. don jr. again. this is a repeated back and forth here. does the white house have credibility on this? trying to impugn the credible of michael cohen. is the white house a credible source? >> if look at the credibility on any number of issues, they don't have a ton of credibility. "the washington post" doing a running count of this. like 3,200 misleading claims over the last year or so. with this particular issue, if you go back a year, you've got donald trump basically intervening to craft a misleading statement about this meeting, essentially say that is it was about a russian adoptions and nothing about finding dirt on hillary clinton. the other thing that i think we found out this week from those cohen tapes is kind of a way things operated at trump tower. i mean, you have cohen there. not only taping donald trump but you get the sense that they're talking about any number of things. campaign issues. minor campaign is

donald trump doesn't get that. in his mind, russia is his base, a critical part of his base, and he's going to pay them off one way or the other. >> matt miller, let me ask you what robert mueller thinks about the crafting of such pro putin foreign policy, do you think he would want to talk to the men and women who help shape u.s. foreign policy in a way that's favorable to vladamir putin? do you think that's a line in the investigation at all? we know some of his national security officials have been into meet with mueller's team. but do you think that is something they want to understand, how foreign policy is crafted? how something like, i'm glad i fired comey, how a u.s. president says that to two top u.s. russian officials, is that of interest to robert muleer? >> it's a difficult call. he is the president of the united states and he has the authority and responsibility to conduct u.s. foreign policy. but if you go back to the central question bob mueller is looking at is whether the president was involved in

what it is is that trump attracts people like trump.ot of people that choose to be in his orbit are people who are looking to ride his coat tails of fame. and i think that that becomes paramount for them. that's the overriding issue. i think michael cohen was one of those people. one of the things that trump is notorious for is not paying people. what he tells the people that he does not pay is that just use my name. tell people you did work for me. that's the value. >> you're alleging that he tells people to say my name? >> say my name, say my name. >> say my name, say my name, say my name. >> that's right. >> well, you know, we're doing an awkward montage later in the show, but i wanted to have some -- >> you wanted to get it out there early. >> do some of it live. it's still a live show tonight. tara, thank you for bringing your experience and insights here. now i bring in michael avenatti, attorney for touchdown and a rumored iowa visitor. why are you going to iowa? >> it's not my first visit to iowa, ari, as you know. i grew up in

her office was in trump tower, where donald trump lived and worked. outside the lift and introduced herself. we shook hands and he pulled me in sort of for that normal double cheek kiss and he held on to my hand though and as he made small talk and asked me questions, continued pulling me in for kisses again and again on my cheeks. it happened once. and you're like, what is he doing? it happened so quickly, it was just very unusual. and at one point he drew me in and kissed me on the lips. i was pretty shocked. i remember running back into the office, then sort of hiding in one of the offices that i knew was unoccupied and just called my sister and was shaking. like, i don't know what happened. but something weird. melinda mcgillivray also told people about her experience with donald trump. she says she was groped while working for a photographer at mr trump's florida mansion in 2003. i had to be at least two feet away from donald trump when i felt this... it was a grab. ifelta grab. from my bottom right cheek. and it was almost like someone was tryin

that donald trump jr. gave the media, so i think that's a consciousness of guilt as well. so it was never really a question to us about whether he knew. it was just whether he'd be straight with the american people about whether he knew. >> so there's this question about credibility, who's telling the truth, trump's attorneys say michael cohen is a proven liar. you've spoken about his trustworthiness, maybe he had this sort of come to jesus moment, but if there is evidence that his story has changed here, would you feel comfortable, as a former prosecutor, putting him before a jury? >> yes. if i had other corroborating witness. and you know, there's an instruction that jurors receive all the time when you only have a single witness to prove a fact. it says if you believe that witness, you can rely on just one witness and it doesn't have to be dna evidence or having the crime committed on videotape. but you need some other circumstantial evidence, and again, i laid out some of it. there was also this issue

trump. a source quotes the president saying, quote, i can't believe michael would do this to me. cnn learns the fbi has more recordings. >>> boosting mueller. the president's legal team is worried that the disastrous summit performance with vladimir putin could strengthen the hand of robert mueller. could this be a turning point in the special counsel's investigation? >>> attack warning. microsoft says three, three 2018 campaigns have been targeted by russian hackers linked to the group which attacked the democratic national committee. that comes as secretary of state mike pompeo warns the russians will continue to undermine western democracy for years to come. >>> and putin's power. in russia, vladimir putin is taunting the u.s. after his meeting with president trump revealing new, high-tech nuclear weapons while hosts on state-run russian tv say president trump, quote, smells like he is a kremlin agent. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >>> breaking news. the fbi now has a

donald trump jr. michael cohen says that he and all the other people there then heard donald trump sr. assent to the meeting and say it should go forward. he approved it happening. if that's the case, this is -- this is very serious, not just in terms of what this means about michael cohen's case and who is leaking what. this could be a very serious criminal matter for the president. >> and immediate perjury case for the likes of congress for donald trump jr. because he told one of the congressional committees that he absolutely never ever told his father about this meeting. >> right. and, so, perjury claims, the question of who spoken to the special counsel, who has been interviewed. that will all become important here, as will the specific nature of what the then candidate now president was advised as to what those russians were bringing. if he was advised, they got her e-mails, this was hacked information. if he was advised this was stuff the russian government somehow obtained by criminal means, t

trump. there is a great possibility that he can testify to things that are damaging. >> i want to bring in everybody else. first david, it seems this is a big test for mueller. all business, everybody says brilliant and this is the first time. first time at bat here. >> i don't want to be glip here, but it is like opening night for production. working on this for over a year. brought cases and put out serious indictment. he got several people to flip. now he has to put on a case in public with a jury. and with juries, there is a chance that something can go south. so the first time that we are going to see his full breadth. >> that doesn't tell you much, but said there, this is a probable democratic jury. i would say, let's start with betsy, no one who is a republican wants to face a jury in d.c. >> potentially virginia is a slighter better jury pool to draw this. i believe it went for hillary clinton. the likelihood that -- >> not exactly dixie. >> that's right. at the same time 12 people.

by donald trump jr., his son. by cohen's account, trump approved going ahead with that meeting with the russians. i should note, don, cohen does not have evidence such as audio recordings to corroborate this claim. i should also add that a source familiar with cohen's house testimony -- remember he testified on the hill -- said he did not testify at that time that trump had advance knowledge and the reports filed by republicans and democrats on that house intelligence committee did not mention these claims. >> okay. so then what about the president's side? what's the response? >> so we reached out to everyone involved here. let's start with the attorney for donald trump jr. he tells cnn, i'm quoting, donald trump jr. has been professional and responsible throughout the mueller and congressional investigations. we are very confident in the accuracy and reliability of the information that has been provided by mr. trump jr. and on his behalf. attorneys, that is lanny davis. we also contacted one of cohen's attorneys,

about donald trump. some of them are making comments about the president unlike anything they have ever said. consider the chairman of the senate finance committee orrin hatch. and remember that orrin hatch is the senator who said this about donald trump. >> we're going to keep fighting, and we're going to make this the greatest presidency that we've seen not only in generation bs t maybe ever. >> so the only member of congress and possibly the only american not named trump who has said that donald trump could be the best president fsh is now saying something that doesn't sound like orrin hatch at all. i actually don't recognize the current trump-supporting version of orrin hatch. the orrin hatch who i knew and saw virtually every day when i was working in the senate finance committee in the 1990s was one of the reasonable and sometimes cooperative and compromising republicans on the committee who helped get the committee's work done, especially on matters of international trade. and orrin hatch has alwa

that trump is pursuing. all right the u.s. reportedly plans to create a new security and political alliance with six gulf arab states egypt and jordan it will be known as the middle east region alliance an organization similar to nato that's made up of sunni muslim allies its main job will be in part to counter iran's influence in the region and to increase cooperation on missile defense military training counterterrorism and developing regional ties sources say the plan might be discussed later this year at a summit scheduled in washington iran's foreign ministry spokesman believes the alliance won't succeed because of a lack of unity normie going to hold true the term that was used which is arab nato is wrong the reasons for creating the alliance and the countries that would participate it given the current conditions in arab countries clearly indicate that this term is neither true nor can it be a reality it is very clear that there is no harmony or consensus between these countries therefore an arab nato is just a symbol a

not welcome and dump trump.right back. ♪ ♪ let your perfect drive come together at the lincoln summer invitation sales event. get 0% apr on select 2018 lincoln models plus $1,000 bonus cash. crisp leaves of lettuce. freshly made dressing. clean food that looks this good. delivered to your desk. now delivering to home or office. panera. food as it should be. are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi.? a more powerful way to stay connected. it gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most wifi coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. it's the ultimate wifi experience. xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. >>> i would give our relationship with the uk and now especially after these two days with your prime minister, i would say the highest level of special. am i allowed to go higher than that, i'm not sure. but it is the highest level of special. very special people, a very special country. >> welcome back to "hardball." president trump trying to men

donald trump jr. said under oath to congress. whether it was under oath or not, lying to congress is a crime. donald trump jr. told the judiciary committee that he did not tell his father about anything of the trump tower meeting before or after. michael cohen is apparently contradicting him. should michael cohen be called before the judiciary committee and clear this up, sooner rather than later? >> i think the mueller investigation is probably the place this should be cleared up. but, you know, that's up to the judiciary committee. >> if this is something that -- let me ask you this. you as a republican senator, would you want to see the judiciary committee sort of clean this up since they have gone down this road, or you would say punt? you would tell senator grassley your advice would be leave it alone? >> well, i think it's going to be a he said/he said issue so i think it's probably better that this goes through the regular process, which is ongoing, chuck. i think the mueller investigation ough

going to donald trump supporters i'm asking about donald trump donald trump is trying to mitigate some of the things being done by countries like iran i mean but he's being belligerent in doing so we're going to go to the audience and take the lady at the front yes my question is do you think donald trump will get reelected in twenty twenty great question he very well may depends on when he runs against we need russian help in twenty twenty. global. i was going to. use because you said you said the kremlin helped him you said it not me it really was going on who runs against him because if a person is very well qualified can get the votes going to qualifications matter i mean there's a donald trump approved the color going is don't matter how do you define qualifications you can i mean if you can be on home alone to be president you can be president you're going to be in the glass. briefly as an american base in northeastern nigeria would partner on a daily basis with one hundred ninety million jerry and i think very simply i just have trouble squaring the forest for the tree argument

> he has donald trump's number.a long time. this feels like he's trying to psych him out. >> but this is the drip, drip, drip. it's beginning to have an impact. when you look at his -- this drip, drip, drip. >> doesn't help. >> yeah. >> all right, guys, thank you. >>> up ahead, unicorns and rainbows. today, there are more sensors on our planet than people. we're putting ai into everything, and everything into the cloud. it's all so... smart. but how do you work with it? ask this farmer. he's using satellite data to help increase crop yields. that's smart for the food we eat. at this port, supply chains are becoming more transparent with blockchain. that's smart for millions of shipments. in this lab, researchers are working with watson to help them find new treatments. that's smart for medicine. at this bank, the world's most encrypted mainframe is helping prevent cybercrime. that's smart for everyone. and in africa, iot sensors and the ibm cloud are protecting endangered animals. that's smart for rhinos. yeah. rhin

president trump says that with the u.s.reasing sanctions on iran they will have to call me and say let's make a deal and we will make a deal. other nations in the deal are negotiating with iran to try to make it work without washington. obama president barack says kenya is making progress in getting the government and the opposition to work together. he is on his first visit to africa since leaving office. he praised the canyon resident and the opposite -- he praised president and the opposite leader for cooperating following the disputed election. obama said kenya needs to do more to face challenges like corruption. global news 24 hours a day, on air and @tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am mark crumpton. this is bloomberg. shery: coming up next, more reaction on russia from former senator joe lieberman. did president trump miss opportunities to hold russia accountable? this is bloomberg. ♪ kevin: this is "bloomberg markets: balance of power." i am kevin ci

donald trump jr. in 2016. >> mr. president, did you know about the meeting at trump tower? >> reporter: but his only response has come on twitter. i did not know of the meeting with my son, don junior. then suggests a motive for cohen under investigation. sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jab. amid the controversy, the white house is celebrating. new signs the economy is thriving. >> we're on track to hit the highest annual average growth rate in over 13 years. >> reporter: and, alex, sometimes there is just the unusual situation of two figures well known being in a space where you might not expect them and that happens from time to time at washington's reagan national airport and on friday politico captured an image showing special counsel robert mueller waiting in gate 35x. a number of different destinations in the same location in the waiting area. so robert mueller seated there in the lower left frame and in the upper right side of t

he nose donald trump's net -- he knows donald trump's net worth. any expenditure was approved by allen. now, that does include, according to the journal, reimbursements to michael cohen. what's more, "the washington post" reports the government has more cohen recordings. a lot of them. quote, the government has seized more than 100 recordings that cohen made of his conversations with people discussing matters that could relate to trump and his businesses and would trump himself talking, according to two people familiar with the recordings. but "the wall street journal's" reporting leads us to our big question today. what more does donald trump's money man know? joining me, phil rucker, white house bureau chief for "the washington post" and an msnbc political analyst. ashley parker, white house reporter for "the washington post" as well. also an msnbc political analyst. betsy woodruff, a politics reporter for t"the daily beast" and an msnbc contributor. danny sav alos, nbc legal analyst. phil, i do want to start with you. this new that alan weissleb

but it is trump.lked about, this is donald trump trying to distract from the fact that he made a fool of himself in helsinki and has been called out on it by just about everybody. >> looking to punish people he has seen on tv critical of him. >> julia, want to talk about your piece in "the washington post." you write putin it turns out is no longer alone in the world. after years of churning out fab list explanations for russian actions, the russians found a willing audience for putin's reality. putin has been playing a game of chicken with the united states. and finally the ufs in the person of trump has blinked. the tweet he put out about america's foolishness and stupidity with russia and the foreign minister tweeting we agree. >> not just that, i'm talking about propensity for these wacky, outlandish sweeconspirac theories. trump mentioned the pakistan gentleman, the dnc servers, he completely debunked conspiracy theories, what do they have in common, they exxon rate trump and the republicans. aft

trump. he overturned the conviction of anti-abortion protester and seen as a very reliable supporter of individual gun rights. meanwhile, the president has been hyping the run-up to tonight's event. >> i believe this person will do a great job. i'm very close to making a decision. i have not made it official yet obviously, not made it final. we are very close to making a decision. >> there are reports donald trump is also concerned about the fight that could occur in this narrowly divided senate. as you know, a single republican defection could tip the court and allow democrats to block the pick assuming democrats are united. get this, the last time there was a situation in the trump era, three democratic senators backed donald trump. tonight, those three you see on the screen are declining invitations to trump's announcement. they will do everything in their power to stop a bad pick. >> if they vote for somebody who will change precedent, it could be a career ending move. >> the president's

donald trump, jr., and his father talked about donald trump, jr.'s work on behalf of the campaign throughout the pendency of the campaign. and of course there were the actions donald trump took after the meeting was exposed in his efforts to try and cover up the meeting by trying to dictate the statement that donald trump, jr., gave to the press. it's not really a surprise, but now is the time for michael cohen to cooperate with bob mueller. and if this was a real investigation on the house side, we would be bringing michael cohen and donald trump, jr., back in. but unfortunately the republicans prematurely and irresponsibly ended our investigation. so this is all on mueller now. >> matt miller, talk about the optics of this. if this really is evidence of collusion, why put it out this way? why put it out in the media instead of sharing it with people investigating collusion with russia? >> it's a great question. it's hard to answer for sure because we don't know who this came from. we don't know if it came from michael cohen where you would presume

trump. [cheers and applause] last year when i spoke at this conference, america was still part of the nuclear deal with iran and the u.s. still had not recognized jerusalem as israel's capital. what a difference a year makes! what a difference president trump has made! the nuclear deal with iran was a disaster for israel. it doesn't block iran's path to the bomb, it paves it. it doesn't curve iran's aggression, it fuels. it hasn't made it more moderate it's made it more extreme. when the prime minister benjamin netanyahu spoke in 2015. he was alone among world leaders in opposing it, alone, that is, until donald trump was elected president. when he was a candidate, donald trump railed against the nuclear agreement. he called it the worst deal ever. he pledged to terminate it and restore sanctions against iran. he apparently missed that high level briefing in which they explained why such a smart idea to give hundreds of billions of dollars in sanctions relief to a terrorist regime that leads

that is not donald trump.re still reeling from the sort of blistering, scolding attacks. he went in that way but he went out with a softer tone. i think went out with a softer tone. i think we will see the same thing today after the meeting at chequers. because first of all, great britain and the uk and the united states are our strongest ally. we have shared world values, we have shared concerns, especially when it concerns, especially when it concerns international terrorism. we are each other‘s largest trading partners. i think we can withstand these family squabbles. i know that brits and backbenchers are reeling today from some of the rhetoric and the somewhat provocative interview in the sun. however, i do think that the two leaders will find more in common than in their differences. but it is important to look at the nuances too. president trump is sending a signal. he is a populist president and he is sending a signal that you need to listen to your people in the uk and support brexit. that is what the