Transcripts For CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 20170725 00:00:00 :

CNNW Anderson Cooper 360 July 25, 2017 00:00:00

Thats absurd. Did anyone involved in the Trump Campaign have contact with russians trying to meddle with the election . Absolutely not. We dont know of any contacts with russian agents. Those conversations never happened. Lie after lie. Why would there be any contacts between the campaign . Why is a question that remains to be answered. What we know now is there were contacts between Jared Kushner by his own admission, not fake news, real facts. Jared kushner said he met with russians, he just didnt collude with them. What else did he say . Reporter he said he had four meetings with russians during the Campaign Season and during the transition. He did say he met with the Russian Ambassador at the Mayflower Hotel during one of then candidate trumps Foreign Policy speeches. Of course, he acknowledged being at that now infamous meeting at trump tower which donald trump, jr. Was promised dirt on the clinton campaign as part of an effort to help with the russian government, effort to help his Fathers Campaign. Jared kushner down played these meetings, saying he went to this meeting with donald trump, jr. , really not knowing what it was. He said he got an email exchange about it, but he didnt read the full email. He said he arrived late and asked an assistant to call him out because it was not relevant. He also acknowledged two other meetings during the transition. Both with the Russian Ambassador, as well as the former National Security adviser michael flynn. And the head of a russian bank, he claimed there was nothing to those meetings. He made some rare public remarks at the white house today, anderson, defending his meetings and said there was nothing there. Heres what he said. The record and documents i have voluntarily provided will show that all of my actions were proper, and occurred in the normal course of events of a kislyak, et cetera, et cetera. He portrays him as innocent, and that may well be. But throughout all of this, he didnt deny that these meetings took place. I think one thing that the investigation will be looking at is inconsistencies in his testimony. So on the one hand with the email about the trump tower meeting in june of 2016, kushner says i didnt even read that whole exchange, because obviously there was one part of that, maybe incriminating is not the word, but it says the russian Government Supports your Fathers Campaign and we want to give you information. He said, i didnt read that part, i knew nothing about the meeting. On the other hand, he talks about an email we got from gucifer or something or other. He read that one and took it to the Secret Service and said is this anything i should be worried about . Little things like that, the investigators, when he goes before the house intelligence committee, will be honing in on. Remember, the reason he paid attention to that is because there was a threat to release all of his fatherinlaws tax records, which they didnt want to release. Whats striking about all of this is first of all, theres the Tortured Process By which Jared Kushner has revealed all of his meetings, which is disorganization at the very least or something worse. But i think what were piecing together, which has nothing to do with the investigation itself perhaps, is these folks were open for business. Donald trump has never taken a threat from russia seriously by his own statements, and he still doesnt as president of the United States. His son, his soninlaw, apparently they all thought it was typical opposition research. They werent worried about it. Kushner is talking about setting up a secret channel to get information from russian generals about syria. So that is so negligent and so naive that you want to turn to people who actually know something about this, who can tell you you shouldnt do that. They dont appear to have done that. If donald trump jr. Is to be believed, he is told that the russian government is backing his father, didnt sound like it was new information to him. But at the very least, thats pretty big information. If donald trump, jr. Is to be believed, he never discussed this with nip, not with Paul Manafort or Jared Kushner. Thats a lot of information for donald trump, jr. To be holding on to. The reason you had this naivety for Jared Kushner, which is ironic given that this person who is charged with trying to resolve the palestinianisraeli conflict cant get out of his own meeting, theyre doing that because in the legal terms he does not want to have the knowledge, the intent that everyone has been talking about. If he is not knowledgeable about it, he could not possibly have the intent to break the law or collude. And so he has a vetted statement that he put forth that was vetted by his lawyers, im sure, with an attempt to say this is a conscious decision. You will be the naive, overwhelmed, inexperienced person on this team. Because while master mind might be a political asset in political terminology, its a scapegoat legally. He said in his statement that he contacted Henry Kissinger at one point to get some advice. But he made it very clear in his statement that this was kind of New Territory for him. And he even said that when he suggested this generaltogeneral meeting in the russian embassy, that both flynn and kislyak said no, no, you cant do that. So he just sort of showed or was trying to show how naive he was. I think, anderson, your point that is important, which is there is information that comes across saying russia wants to help your father win. Theres nobody that doesnt know thats very inappropriate, beside just cheering on the part of Vladamir Putin. And there were enough people around, lawyers, other Foreign Policy types, who could have been giving advice, including flynn, Who Wouldnt Say put the brakes on this. Thats the point, that the president is acting like he has something to hide and is c contemptuous of the suggest you talk to business leaders. They understand that there are leaders with russian and American Business folks. But even they understand its different than saying youre going to get involved 234 an election. They didnt care. Thats the timeline now. You get the email that says the russian government wants to help your dad win in june. And then in december, during the transition, you have, as you said, open for business, russian officials coming in and talking and theres no evidence that he ever once at any of these meetings raised russian interference. They just didnt care about it. Up next, once upon a time, he was the first senator to back the trump candidacy. Why is President Trump referred to Jeff Sessions as beleaguered . And the president increases pressure on republicans to repeal and replace obamacare. A live update from capitol hill. When youre close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment . If you have moderate to severe psoriasis, you can embrace the chance of completely clear skin with taltz. Taltz is proven to give you a chance at completely clear skin. With taltz, up to 90 of patients had a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. In fact, 4 out of 10 even achieved completely clear skin. Do not use if you are allergic to taltz. Before starting you should be checked for tuberculosis. Taltz may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you are being treated for an infection or have symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. Inflammatory bowel disease can happen with taltz. Including worsening of symptoms. Serious allergic reactions can occur. Nows your chance at completely clear skin. Just ask your doctor about taltz. Nows your chance at completely clear skin. So, your new prescription does have oh, like what . Ects. Youre gonna have dizziness, nausea, and sweaty eyelids. And in certain cases chronic flatulence. No sooooo gassy girl. So gassy. If youre boyz ii men, you make anything sound good. Its what you do. If you want to save 15 percent or more on car insurance, you switch to geico. Its what you do. Next next when Heartburn Hits Fight back fast with new tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum new tums chewy bites. Then i found aleve pm. Aleve pm is the only one to combine a safe sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. Finding the best hotel price is now a safe bet. Because tripadvisor searches over 200 Booking Sites so you save up to 30 on the hotel you want. Lock it in. Tripadvisor. Atmore than one flavor, oruch texture, or color. Ing. A good clean salad is so much more than green. And with panera catering, more for your event. Panera. Food as it should be. President trump is taking another swipe at Attorney General Jeff Sessions after he criticized sessions for recusing himself for the russian investigation. Today he tweeted a new attack against one of his earliest and most loyal supporters. Our jeff zeleny is at the white house with the breaking news. So has the president even spoken directly to the Attorney General since this comments about him in the New York Times last week . Reporter anderson, hes not spoken to the Attorney General, and the new Communications Director, anthony scaramucci, told our sarah murray earlier today, he said they need to have a facetoface discussion about their future. Thats interesting that the Communications Director would say that the president and the Attorney General should have a conversation, but the president has not asked for one. The president has not brought the Attorney General he was his most loyal, committed, dedicated supporter back during the president ial campaign. He left his job in the safe senate seat of alabama to become the Attorney General. He, in fact, Jeff Sessions was in the west wing today we are told, having normal meet wings with the White House Counsels Office but not with the president. They have not spoken since before that New York Times interview. Last week, the president essentially threw his Attorney General under the bus. We got a window into the president s thinking today, during a photo op with interns of all things, when the president was standing silently to take a picture and a reporter asked him this. Mr. President , did Jeff Sessions resign . [ laughter ] there and the smirk spoke volumes, although he didnt speak anything. The president tonight was in west virginia, speaking at a boy scout jamboree. He invited some eagle scouts who serve in his cabinet to be on stage. Rick perry, but Jeff Sessions is also an eagle scout and he was not invited. Also Rex Tillerson is, isnt he if . Reporter yes, Rex Tillerson is an eagle scout but he was not there. But no two people were closer during the campaign, but because of Attorney General sessions decision to recuse himself from the russian investigation, the president fuming about it, and were told hes gotten angrier. And Rudy Giulianis name has been band yesterday about as a replacement. He commented about it. Reporter Rudy Giuliani was talked about being the Secretary Of State or a variety of things. But theres been a rumor who would replace jeff session it is he stepped down . Rudy giuliani was flying to washington today and cnn caught up with him and he said theres no truth to this rumor. Im not going to be named the next Attorney General. He also said i believe that Jeff Sessions did the right thing by recusing himself from this russian investigation. And should the president , if the president would appoint him, theres a good reason to believe he would have to recuse himself as well, because Rudy Giuliani was also involved in the campaign at the same time period. But it points out how difficult it would be in this environment in washington to confirm a new Attorney General. Its one of the reasons a lot of smart minds think that the Attorney General will stay. But again, of course thats all up to the president. Well see if they ever have that meeting. Jeff zeleny, thank you very much. Back with the panel now. Jason, should the president sit down with his Attorney General and why do you think he hasnt . I think the president has to make a decision here. Jeff sessions is someone who was very loyal on the campaign trail. Hes a favorite of conservatives and of trump nation supporters through and through. But look, the president clearly has an issue with Jeff Sessions recusing himself from this Russia Investigation. If its something that the president fundamentally cant get over, he needs to fire him. The further this goes on, without dealing with it, i think this is problematic and distracts away from the bigger things we should be dealing with like repealing and replacing obamacare. But Jeff Sessions does have a strong support base across both the administration and the country. A lot of tough days on that campaign, Jeff Sessions never wavered. It is interesting that there was nobody more loyal to donald trump than Jeff Sessions, and by the way, trump a lot more loyal to Vladamir Putin who also played a Critical Role in elected him is the only place trump has stayed loyal to. Sessions had no choice to recuse himself. Rudy giuliani said so today. Also, President Trump seemed to believe that sessions should have told him before he got the job that he was going to recuse himself, but at that point, as far as i know, he didnt know he was going to recuse himself, because he only recused himself after his testimony. He would have had to recuse himself ebecause he played aCritical Role in that campaign. So even if he had given the misleading testimony to the Senate Judiciary committee, this is what is bothersome. The Attorney General had no choice. It wasnt simply i dont feel like doing my job. It was my job requires me to recuse. The president doesnt understand that. Whats really disturbing here is that hes not firing him, that hes torturing him right now and toying with him. And hes like almost insulting him publicly, two times in a week, trying to i guess trying to get him to quit because he doesnt have the guts to fire people. It reminds me of the movie office space where they dont fire milton, they just take his stapler and move him to the basement. Thats how they do it with tv anchors, as well. [ laughter ] everyone just got very nervous. But it is interesting for a president who, you know, made a name for being the fguy you fired the irony is, hes not very good saying things facetoface to people. As much as he was mr. Fired on tv, thats not how he operates. Hes more likely to try to drive him out. The question is, why now . We know that hes been upset with sessions since the beginning, since he recused himself. But now hes really going after him in a much more intense way than he was before. To me it suggests that hes realizing this is serious. The Russia Investigation is a real problem, and so whereas he was frustrated before, now hes panicking. But theres nothing he wont do apparently. We thought it was folly to fire the fbi director. Bill clinton, president clinton was not very happy with janet reno at very uarious points. But there was a sense there was an independence of the Justice Department and the fbi. Theres no reason this president wont fire the a. G. Or make a move on mueller. He wants to litigate every aspect of this. If he fires Jeff Sessions or sessions resigns, and he wants first of all, very difficult to get another a. G. In there, even if you Rod Rosenstein gets elevated. He doesnt like rosenstein either. Right. Because hes from baltimore or whatever. So he doesnt like theres too Many Democrats in baltimore, unlike New York City where President Trump is from. So he doesnt want to elevate ro

© 2025 Vimarsana