Anderson Cooper takes viewers beyond the headlines with indepth reporting and investigations. Courthouse in alexandrialexandr virginia, cnns jessica schneider. So what did we learn today at the trial . Anderson, we learned a lot. It was only the first day here, but this courtroom is definitely living up to its Rocket Docket reputation. They managed to whittle down this jury pool of 65 people down to 12 jurors plus four alternates, and then, of course, we heard the fiery Opening Statements here. In this, prosecutors shed some light on Paul Manaforts lavish lifestyle, and they did it by talking about his 30 hidden Foreign Bank Accounts they say existed in three different countries. And they say that funded that lavish lifestyle that included seven different homes, ranging from virginia to manhattan, all the way to the hamptons on long island. They also talked about his 500,000 luxury clothing. They mentioned a 21,000 watch, and they even, yes, mentioned a 15,000 jacket made of ostrich. The prosecution here says that they have a witness list of 35 people that they plan to call, but this trial is really only expected to go three weeks. We saw just how fast this trial moved just in the first day here. So who knows. It could wrap up even sooner. But yes, 35 witnesses of the prosecution is expecting to call. Anderson . Im amazed how fast it moved today. Jessica schneider, thank you so much. We have new reporting now from cnns jeff zeleny, more on the white house strategy for dealing with the trial. As you might have guessed from the top of the program, item one, distancing the president from Paul Manafort. Were also learning the president watched Trial Coverage on his way down to florida today. Thats according to officials who spoke to jeff. And the president has asked staffers for regular updates as the prtrial proceeds. Joining us is jeffrey toobin, a former federal prosecutor. So is jennifer rodgers. And jason miller is a former Trump Campaign senior adviser. So, jeff, the fact that its day one and theres already been jury selection, Opening Statements and the first witness
called, what does it tell you about how this trial is going to proceed . Its going to be two weeks rather than three weeks. I just have no doubt this trial will go faster than expected. Thats how it always works in the Eastern District of virginia. And its a place where prosecutors win almost all the time. It is known as a very proprosecution jurisdiction, and given the facts of this case, i think manafort is just in a world of trouble. But jeff, the judges want prosecutors the steer clear of anything russiarelated. Is that i mean, is it the Elephant In The Room there for the jurors or, i mean, can they do that . You know, i have a lot of confidence in jurors in matters like this. I mean, the real problem for Paul Manafort here is there doesnt appear to be any evidence that he paid his taxes. I mean, he got all this money. It was stashed in these Foreign Bank Accounts, and the taxes werent paid. Now, like most people who are accused of a crime with a cooperating witness, hes going try to put all the blame on the cooperating wutness. That is a standard strategy. It rarely works, but it sometimes does. And you know, but its just going to be difficult to persuade the jury that somehow rick gates is responsible for the fact that Paul Manafort made millions upon millions of dollars and didnt pay his taxes. Jennifer, do you agree that that defense strategy, trying to pin it all on rick gates, who is a cooperating witness, thats basically the kind of defense 101 . It is. It is exactly. The problem here is that rick gates, of course, was not cooperating until after the charges were filed. So, they were prepared to proceed with this case without rick gates onboard. They have all the documentary evidence. Like jeff just said, these are individual income taxes that Paul Manafort lied about, not to mention some properties on which there was mortgage fraud, had nothing to do with rick gates in the hamptons and in brooklyn. So, hes going to have a really hard time pinning all of this on rick gates, for sure. Jason, the push from the president s allies arguing that Paul Manafort was basically nobody on the campaign, only worked there for four months,
through the Republican Convention if it wasnt Paul Manafort. Did Paul Manafort help prevent some of the brain damage if it had gone forward and there had been a floor fight and such things like that . Of course. But was there any chance that President Trump was going to get caught up at convention or he wasnt going to get through or anything like that . Of course not. Lets not go and blow it out of proportion. So, the role that he played was a relatively shorter amount of time, and i dont think we need to go and blow that out of proportion. But again, everything thats happening to Paul Manafort, those are Paul Manafort problems, those are not donald trump problems. Its harder to blow it out of proportion, jeff, if your title is chairman of the campaign. It seems like a pretty big time. Absolutely. And remember what hes charged with. He is charged with taking millions upon millions of dollars from viktor yanukovych, who was the proputin politician in ukraine. So, its not that this is completely unrelated to the whole russia situation. Remember, too, that during the convention, they changed the
platform toe make the ukrainian section more proputin. So, the entire thrust of the Trump Campaign, which the issue of a conspiracy with the russian interests, you know, remains the heart of the investigation. Manaforts presence in the campaign is evidence of sympathy to putin in and of itself. So in that respect, its not the criminal charges, but who Paul Manafort is, is highly relevant to this investigation. But jeffrey, if i could just jump in real quick, is there some sort of crime that youre accusing the president of . No. Im not, but you know, when you are asking why the president has this fixation with Vladimir Putin, which apparently continues to this day, and why Vladimir Putin was so desperate to see donald trump win and Hillary Clinton lose and why donald trump was asking russians
to hack emails, which they did the same day, all of it is relevant evidence to what happened in this campaign. Jennifer, i mean, at some point, rick gates himself will have to testify. Do you think hell find anything out about will we find anything out about the larger Mueller Investigation from that . You know, the one way that we could is that when a cooperator testifies, the defense is entitled to crossexamine him or her about all Impeachment Material. So, if rick gates did things during the campaign that were illegal or go to his credibility, then prosecutors could raise that and the defense could crossexamine on it. You know, it seems from some of the pretrial motions and litigation that the word russia, i guess one of the prosecutors said, probably wont even be uttered. So, it sounds like they dont have that kind of Impeachment Material they need to front and that manafort lawyers will cross on, so im suspecting not, but if there is anything like that, that could be the context in which it would be raised. Jason, President Trump has said on more than one occasion about only hiring the best. If thats true, shouldnt the campaign have done its Due Diligence when it came the Paul Manafort and figured out if manafort had been operating above board or not . This is a pretty, you know, sleazy track record that the prosecutors certainly have laid out. Well, absolutely. But there is no such thing as a time machine. And so, the fact of the matter is is that Paul Manafort was onboard for, as i said before, a relatively shorter amount of time, and he was not the person who ultimately was the Campaign Manager that took us across the finish line. That was kelly anne, as you know, along with steve bannon and a whole host of other folks who were onboard. But look, Paul Manafort, we primarily focused on the Convention Phase of this, did have a long track record of working with conventions and things like that. But i think one of the other things that i think kind of a little jumbled up in the media is that President Trump and manafort werent particularly close. I dont think that President Trump really knew much all aboutPaul Manaforts background. These were not two men who would hang out, grab dinner or lunch or chat. But to the point the president constantly saying he hires the best, that seems to imply he knows who hes hiring. Your argument seems to be, well, he didnt really know this guy even though he went on tv multiple times and talked about what a great guy he was. Well, he got a mulligan in this one. But whats the one thing donald trump knew about Paul Manafort, which was that he worked for viktor yanukovych. That was basically his only client for years. And the fact that he worked for yanukovych, the proputin politician in ukraine, was good enough for donald trump. That tells you something in and of itself, no . But i think the one thing that President Trump knew is that Paul Manafort had convention experience. In the 80s. In the 80s. 30 years ago. But its been a long time since there was a real convention fight. Keep in mind it had been literally decades since there was a real Convention Battle within Republican Party politics. That was something paul was able to speak to. He wasnt being brought on for any Policy Matters or any grand strategic vision. He is someone who was going to manage the convention. That was the value he was demonstrating at that particular time. All right, jason miller, jeff toobin, jennifer rodgers, thanks very much. Up next, the president s trip to florida and his flight from any tough questions or any place he might encounter any tough questions. Were keeping him honest on that. As, Breaking News in the fight over firearms that you can make at home with a special pri printer and the plans a court tonight just blocked from getting out. The legal battle and the role the white house played in this with 3d printing guns ahead on ac 360. Nourished hair. Better color. Keep it comin love. If you keep on eating, well keep it comin. All you can eat riblets and tenders at applebees. Now thats eatin good in the neighborhood. You shouldnt be rushed into booking a hotel. With expedias addon advantage, booking a Flight Unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. Addon advantage. Only when you book with expedia. Addon advantage. Sometimes a day at the ballpark is more than just a day at the ballpark. Stadium pa all military members stand and be recognized. Sometimes fans cheer for those who wear a different uniform. No matter where or when you served, tmobile stands ready to serve you. Thats why were providing half off family lines to all military. To help prevent another stroke. So, im doing all i can to stay in his life. Be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen. Chicken thats right, chicken . candace new Chicken Creations from starkist. Buffalo Style Chicken in a pouch bold choice, charlie just tear, eat. Mmmmm. And go try all of my Chicken Creations chicken well, it is july 31st and that gives us an opportunity to point something out. The white house has only held
three Press Briefings all month. Now, these things used to be common enough that they were actually called the Daily White HousePress Briefing, which meant daily. Now you can call them nearly extinct, which makes what youre about to hear kind of odd. Give a listen and ask yourself, does this sound like a promise . Were here. Were taking questions. Were doing everything we can to provide regular and constant information to the American People, and there is a responsibility by you guys to provide accurate information, and were going to continue to try to work with you. Well, she said that may 9th. That entire month, there were nine White House Press briefings. In june, just five. This month, only three. So tell us what was that again . Were here. Were taking questions. Were doing everything we can to provide regular and constant information to the American People. Everything they can do to provide regular and constant information. Everything they can do. See, for a minute there, it sounded like Sarah Sanders was actually promising to provide regular and constant information to the American People. Keeping them honest, we asked her why she promised the people one thing and is doing the polar opposite, but we simply havent had the chance, because there have only been three briefings this month. If youd like to ask Sarah Sanders about her promise, take a number. If youd like to know what President Trump thinks about Michael Cohens allegations about the Trump Tower Meeting, get in line. If you want to see the president challenged about why the white house lied about the president not being involved with wanting to buy Karen Mcdougals silence after audiotape shows he actually was, sorry, you are out of luck. And the same goes for false and misleading statements like this one just yesterday. The president tweeting a highly respected federal judge today stated that the Trump Administration gets great credit for reuniting legal families. Thank you, and please look at the previous administrations record. Not good. The president neglected to point out that the judge admonished the administration for essentially making orphans out of kids. Thats the beauty of the twitter machine. You can omit, you can rephrase, you can make stuff up. Whatever you want, and no one
can challenge you. Last year anthony scaramucci, the new White House Communications director for those ten glorious days, refused to commit to regular white house briefings. Hes gone, but it sure looks like his idea is gaining traction at the white house today. President trump left for his trip to florida this afternoon without saying a word to reporters and in case youre wondering, that is par for the course. With the exception of his jount appearance alongside italys Prime Minister yesterday, the president has refused to answer reporters questions 16 times in just the last six days. Thank you, everybody, thank you. Thanks, guys. Thank you. Mr. President , sir, is Michael Cohen lying . Did Michael Cohen betray you . Mr. President , did Michael Cohen betray you, sir . Mr. President , why did you cancel the meeting with Vladimir Putin, sir . Well, thats what were seeing more and more of, Unanswered Questions and fewer chances to ask them. And in the meantime, the president reportedly is itching for more occasions like he just finished up at tonight, rallies where he can say whatever he wants and hear nothing in return but applause. Our jim acosta is in tampa for us tonight, joining us now. So, this lack of transparency, is there any other reason theyre doing this other than the fact they dont want to answer questions about, for instance, why the president lied and why the white house, why the campaign, i should say, lied, not knowing about Karen Mcdougal and ami and the deal . Anderson, i think the only thing you can conclude, and youre going to hear some folks here, i think, letting their feelings be known at this rally here in tampa, about how they feel about cnn. But anderson, i think the honest answer to your question is that this white house is obviously hiding from the press. Theyre hiding the president from the press. They are hiding the Press Secretary from the press. Thats the only conclusion you
can come to when theyve only had five Press Briefings in the last month of june, and only three Press Briefings this month. I mean, that is historically