Anderson Cooper takes viewers beyond the headlines with indepth reporting and investigations. This from cohen. He has been lying all week. He has been lying for years. Reporter lying for years, he says, which is strange because that means Michael Cohen must have been no less a liar when Rudy Giuliani was praising him for not being liar. So was mr. Giuliani lying in that clip you just heard, or lying in this one from just a couple of months ago . The man is an honest, honorable lawyer. It all becomes clear right now. Its confusing, to say the least. The honest honorable lawyer has also been deeply dishonest for years, or at least this week. Maybe its like truthful hyperbole or something. Or maybe like so much else these days is yet another thing that would be funny if it werent so serious. After all, the assertion by Michael Cohen if true casts serious down on the president s longtime claims of no collusion with russia. If true, what else would this be expect the candidate having knowledge or complicity in a form of premeditated collaboration or attempted collaboration with a hostile foreign power in the middle of its attack on american democracy. Youll remember the meeting was
scouring through the material. It was literally waste of 20 minutes, which was a shame. Nobody. I didnt know anything. Its very unimportant sound like a very unimportant meeting. The president has stated very clearly he was not aware of the meeting and did not attend the meeting. This is not a situation where the president was not involved in the meeting, was not aware of the meeting, did not attend the meeting. When did the president learn that that meeting had taken place . I believe in the last couple of days. He did not learn about this meeting until a couple of days ago . He was not wear of the meeting, he was not involved, it sound unimportant. It was such a nothing. But keeping them honest, if it was such a nothing, why did everyone from the president on down start lying about it the moment it became known . First the meeting was billed primarily about adoption of russian children that was a lie. Then came more false statements about what was actually Response Form that bogus statement. I wasnt involved in the Statement Drafting at all, nor was the president. Im assuming that was between mr. Donald trump jr. , between don jr. And his lawyer. That was july 11th of last
else, which does not mean there was no news at the white house today, just the opposite. Cnns Abbey Phillip joins us now. Has the white house any official responsible this Trump Tower Meeting . They have not. The white house has not offered anything in the way of clarification about many of the comments you played there made from the podium by the press secretary, Sarah Huckabee sanders. And the president , as you just mentioned, left town without making any statements at all, leaving this as simply his word against his former lawyers. But the president tried this morning in a tweet to preempt questions from reporters by saying, denying the story, saying he did not know anything about this meeting with don jr. And those russians. But he does not want, clearly, to answer any questions from reporters about it at all, and that is not really how this works. The white house wont submit to any sort of inquiries at all from white house reporters about what they make of this new reporting and how that squares with all of those past statements, denying any knowledge whatsoever from the
president about that meeting, anderson. Do we have any idea what the mood of the president is right now amidst all of this . Well, he is clearly very angry. A white house source told us this week that he has been stewing for days about all of this reporting, watching the coverage on television, and he is angry not just with his former lawyer Michael Cohen, but also with reporters who continue to ask him about this at all these opportunities. They try to change the subject this morning at a Pretty Hastily Put Together Press Conference in the rose garden. The Press Reporters kept feet away from the president , against the president just turned and walked out of the room after. But those questions kept coming. And President Trump is clearly pretty annoyed about it. The tweets we have seen from President Trump this morning reflect pretty accurately where he is. He thinks these questions are a waste of his time and he doesnt want to talk about it. Hed rather talk about Anything Else. And abby, do i have my math right . Are we on day three now without any answers about lies exposed by the cohen tape . Thats exactly right. Three days of the president not saying anything about it, being asked about it. The white house also being asked about it, referring questions to the president s outside lawyers, and also, i should note, anderson, not having any White House Press briefings to answer any Press Briefings at all. Sarah sanders last briefing on monday. The white house has only had three Press Briefings all month. This is the white house retreating from inquiries about all of these controversies swirling around this president. They dont want to talk about it, and theyre not giving reporters opportunities to do it. When they are pressed on it, they are lashing out at reporters, as weve seen this week. The white house is really leaving this out in the open, allowing these questions to continue to swirl around this president. Three Press Briefings in a month, wow. Abby phillip, wow. The damage he could do and some of the other evidence he we can look to determine who is telling the truth here. Joining us for that is Carl Bernstein who shares the bylines from the scoop and has fwln before. And maggie haberman, and cnn chief legal analyst jeffrey toobin. I mean, maggie, its, again, this odd situation where this is a story involving two people who are not known for their truth telling. Right. I think its interesting looking at that cascade of things, statements from Rudy Giuliani, who is the president s current lawyer. People who get around donald trump tend to take on his personality. This has been a habit that we have seen through the campaign. We have seen it through his career in business. I think when Michael Cohen was working for donald trump, he said things that were not true. I think you see Rudy Giuliani now saying things that are not true. Giuliani told us of that tape of Michael Cohen and donald trump, that it was, quote unquote, exculpatory. He described a series of events on this tape that did not quite play out once you heard the audio. And so i think that you are seeing giuliani try to pit trumps credibility againstMichael Cohens and suggest that trump will win. You cant there is a problem, and this was the issue for them during the campaign. The corrosive lying and the Corrosive Distorting and the corrosive lack of telling the truth, it does have an impact at a certain point. Right. And you cant just keep saying to people youre not hearing what youre hearing. Now, look, Michael Cohen contradicted himself, i think. I think he said something a little different to congress about the Trump Tower Meeting, and he will have to deal with that if he gets called by Robert Muellers investigators. I do think when you look at aggregate what this white house has said, the myriad of things. I never get over jay sekulow saying the president was involved in drafting the report. He may not have been told the truth. But this is the problem we hear over and over again. Well, this is the president saying or this is the client saying. Then quit or dont parrot it if
time he said no collusion, is a lie. So its not just sort of a random lie about the size of the inauguration crowd. Its lying about his involvement with the russian government in the campaign. And carl, if a meeting was squeaky clean with nothing improper, why have there been so many iterations to, you know, to who is there, who knew about it, what exactly took place, what the whole purpose was . Lets be clear about this meeting. This meeting was convened for the purposes of colluding. That was the invitation that was extended to donald trump jr. By mr. Goldstone on behalf of russian representatives to bring dirt to a meeting about Hillary Clinton at the behest of the russian government. It said in the letter of introduction, as it were. So this meeting is unique. It is hugely important, and thus far, from the moment we have learned about it, absolutely
every aspect of it has been attempted to be covered up by donald trump and those around him. He has been truthful about nothing having to do with this meeting. Why . Because, indeed, its indicative of collusion. Now, is this the one time perhaps now that mr. Cohen has said this that donald trump is telling the truth about this meeting and that he did not know of it in advance where he has lied about every other aspect of it almost . Its possible, i suppose. But you and others have run through the chronology of what occurred and what he said three days after the invitation was extended and his son knew about it. Yeah. Its very strange, all these coincidences. And its going to get sorted out. And i think thats one of the reasons were seeing donald trump, according to people around him in the white house, acting so desperately and unhinged in his fury. Maggie, the thing i keep
coming back to about this meeting, and probably will repeat this several times tonight is if were if they were to be believed, donald trump jr. Is informed that the kremlin is supporting his fathers campaign, and he chooses and even if Paul Manafort is in that meeting and kushner is in that meeting, he chooses not to tell his father either in advance or after that meeting, this pretty stunning idea, true or not, that the kremlin is supporting your campaign. For such a small organization, a Small Campaign at that point, its pretty hard to imagine. What im not clear so there is a couple of things i would say about that. Its not clear to me what whether cohen is going to say or is prepared to say or has told people that donald trump sr. Was briefed after this meeting or before this meeting took place. And there is a distinction in and heres why. I could see a world as knowing how people are around donald trump and afraid of incurring his wrath or accused of not being competent or any number of
things he says to his nearest and dearest. If you go and tell him that actually this thing did not result in anything, this didnt happen, you are going to get dismissed. So its possible that he was not briefed after. The question was whether he was briefed before. To me that is the big question mark, and i dont know the answer. I think that generally speaking, in that campaign, people did not do things without donald trump knowing. Not everything, but most times. But there is another very important fact that plays into what people knew when, which is Donald Trumps announcement that hes going give a big speech about Hillary Clintons misdeeds involving russia, among other countries. He gives that announcement of the speech when in the leadup to this meeting. Right. The meeting turns out to be a bust, and donald trump never gives this promised speech. How does donald trump decide to gave big speech on this subject
without knowing that the Trump Tower Meeting is taking place . And how does he decide to cancel the speech without knowing that the meeting is a bust . Thats a chronology thats very hard to explain. And certainly, carl, what we have seen of this president is hes not great about keeping his cards close to the chest. He does like to promo something. He does like to promote something in advance. Watch for some big things, revelation coming up or big news on a summit or whatever it may be. To jeffs point, its entirely possible that he knew about this meeting and decided to kind of give a little promo. Well, thats what it certainly would look like and appears a perfectly reasonable assumption from what he said. Let me add one more piece of information that i learned in the last few days, not from any source connected to cohen or cohens attorneys, but this is that there was a weekly Family Meeting convened by donald trump
at which he presided over through the whole campaign at which almost everything from what i gather of importance in the campaign was discussed. Now whether or not the meeting mr. Cohen is referring to, assuming that it existed in the way he is talking about it is a Family Meeting, i dont know. But there is a part of the whole Campaign Process in which the family was fully briefed and interacted with one another on all the major happenings in the campaign. Perhaps donald trump kept some things from his children. Thats possible, and from his soninlaw and vice versa. I suppose thats possible too. But we now have a picture of the Family Involvement around this one meeting thats starting to coalesce in a way that is very distressing. Okay. To Donald Trumps legal team and the people around him. Donald trump sr. Did not attend those meetings. It was always the children. The children just meeting with each other . Correct. And with some of the campaign you mean the Family Meeting . Correct. Thats an important distinction. If were talking about the history of the campaign, that is how that but it was a regular Family Meeting of just the kids . Just the kids and sometimes some campaign aides. I think its also worth mentioning another part of carls story that he wrote with jim sciutto yesterday on cnn. Com. According to cohen, there are other people present at the meeting where he found out that donald trump sr. Knew about the Trump Tower Meeting. Their testimony may be more important than anyone elses, because maybe their credibility is better than Donald Trumps or Michael Cohens. Corroboration is always indispensable when it comes to these swearing contests. Are there emails . Are there texts . Are there tapes or other witnesses who can confirm or refute what Michael Cohen says about this meeting . That may be more important than
cohens testimony itself, because his credibility is so damaged. There are a lot of wins for the president , for his Administration Just this week. North korea returning what seemed to be has to be confirmed, remains of u. S. Service members. Certainly economic numbers on gdp growth. All things are good for him, but also this week the cfo of the Trump Organization is subpoenaed and this tape emerged which seems to prove that the president lied about his knowledge about Karen Mcdougals deal with ami. There are two things going on and one is that the white house cannot tell a consistent story not just about these issues, but their own accomplishments. So that is one thing because the president will then tweet Something Like he did this morning. Its not these are distractions and i dont want to talk about this, the way weve seen other politicians do. But we have not talked about the Allen Weisselberg appearance before the grand jury that is pend, and this is related to the cohen case in the southern
district of new york, and that is a huge deal. Because he knows everything . Everything. He is synonymous with trumps money. So if you are looking at trying to unravel things that could be problematic for donald trump over decades, this is not just over the last year. He was working for Donald Trumps father . He worked for Donald Trumps father. He was involved in the trump foundation. He is involved in the Trump Organization. He is involved in trumps personal trust, the money that was moved over after he became president. And he reviewed the campaigns books at various points. He literally knows everything. I feel like that was the that is getting overshadowed about this talk about what cohen may or may not say. And in reality, the Allen Weisselberg call to a grand jury is an enormous deal. Maggie haberman, Carl Bernstein, jeff toobin, thanks. Ahead, American Politics and policy, Lieutenant Colonel ralph peters will have plenty to say about that when we come back. And late e2 attorneys with skin in the game clash. Michael avenatti and Alan Dershowitz tonight on 360. How do you win at business . Stay at laquinta. Where were changing with contemporary makeovers. Then, use the ultimate power handshake, the upper hander with a double palm grab. Who has the upper hand now . Start winning today. Book now at lq. Com. Sharper vision, without limits. Days that go from sun up to sun down. A whole world in all its beauty. Three Innovative Technologies for our ultimate in vision, clarity, and protection. To