Anderson Cooper takes viewers beyond the headlines with indepth reporting and investigations. Knowing that was illegal. Cnn chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto is covering the trial. He joins us. Now what more did gates say on the stand . Anderson, you had the deputy there sitting within ten feet of his former his longtime boss, documenting by his accounts numerous crimes, alleged crimes by his boss, Paul Manafort. And the list started with them setting up 15 Foreign Bank Accounts which they did not report to the government for the purposes of hiding taxes. He said that they filed false income tax returns. He said they failed to file as foreign agents even though they were working as agents for a Foreign Government, in this case the prorussian Government Of Ukraine at the time. And rick gates said he did all of this, his words, all of this at the direction of Paul Manafort, saying these are crimes we did together, in
and that certainly holds true for rick gates. I should mention he also pleaded guilty to lying to federal prosecutors that is something you can expect the defense to bring up when they have their chance to question him. One final note i would make, anderson, is there you had Paul Manafort at the defendants table. About ten feet away was rick gates facing 90 degrees to him. Rick gates did not make contact with Paul Manafort. But Paul Manafort sitting there with his arms crossed did not let his gaze leave the face of rick gates as he was making these claims. He was not happy. He was very stressed. You could sense some anger in his eyes as he was watching rick gates give this testimony against him. Wow. And more from gates tomorrow. Jim sciutto, thanks very much. I want to bring in our legal team, former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers and another former federal prosecutor, cnn analyst renato mariotti. Renato, you said rick gates was the most important gates in the Manafort Trial by far. There was an accountant in the last couple of days who
so theyre expecting to hear some real dirt on rick gates. And if theyve already heard it all already, if the Defense Questioning just sounds like its repeating what the prosecutor already said, it really takes a lot of the thunder out of it. And thats why prosecutors do it. We called it fronting. And thats what prosecutors do all the time. Jennifer, do you agree fronting works . Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Because, you know, you got to get it all out there. You dont want any surprises on cross. Theyll beat him up for a while about youre a liar, youre a criminal, blah, blah, blah. But theyve heard it all before. At some point, if they get too aggressive, then the jury starts to feel sorry for your cooperator. And thats really the last thing the defense wants. So they have to be a little careful with that. Renato, what do you think gates is going to talk about tomorrow . He is back on the stand tomorrow. He wasnt really on the stand for all that long, a couple of hours today. What do you think we can expect . I think the prosecution is going to walk through all of their evidence with gates. Theyll walk through the emails with manafort, ask him to
interpret those emails. What did you understand manafort to mean when he said that . What were you saying to manafort, back and forth . Walking through each one of the counts, each one of the charges against manafort and explaining exactly what was happening and how it works. Theyll really use it almost like a preview of a closing argument, allowing the jury to see how Rick Gates Interfaced with all the evidence, having him explain as an insider how the scheme worked. Renato mariotti, appreciate it. Jennifer rodgers as well. More now on the star witness, how he became one and how he got in a position to be so valuable for the mueller team. Randi kaye has more on that. Reporter rick gates, a 45yearold father of four, was once a senior aide to Donald Trumps campaign. He entered trumps orbit through Paul Manafort, trumps former Campaign Chairman. Gates and manafort met in the 1980s when gates interned at manaforts lobbying firm. Gates teamed up with his old boss again in 2006 at manaforts new firm to do business in the
ukraine as lobbyists and political consultants. A decade later, in 2016, manafort joined the Trump Campaign and brought his trusted deputy along with him. Paul manafort has done a fantastic job. And all of pauls people. Paul brought on his staff. And we really do we have a great staff of talented people. Reporter eventually, manafort took over the campaign and gates became his number two. Gates traveled extensively with then candidate trump, and together he and manafort oversaw trumps Vice President ial pick and devised a general election strategy. I have to credit manafort and gates for putting so much of that together before we arrived. Gates got caught up in controversy early on. Sources say he oversaw the process of putting together the plagiarized speech Melania Trump gave at the Republican National convention, which he denied. The only limits of the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for
them. The only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them. Reporter things only got worse. In october last year, gates surrendered after being indicted by a federal grand jury. Court filings exposed what prosecutors describe as an 11year scheme in which gates and manafort laundered tens of millions of dollars they made doing foreign lobbying work. Prosecutors say the two funneled 75 million through offshore accounts. Among the charges, conspiracy to launder money and failing to report Foreign Bank Accounts. The white house quickly tried to distance itself from him. Look, i think that those are issues that took place long before they were involved with the president. Reporter but there is no denying gates history with the Trump Campaign. Gates ties to manafort and his activities could mean he was briefed on the june 2016 Trump Tower Meeting which manafort attended, along with don jr. And jared kushner. A russian lawyer had promised to give them dirt on Hillary Clinton. Gates and manafort reportedly also once emailed about Trump Campaign adviser George Papadopoulos efforts to set up a meeting between trump and russian officials. They reportedly dismissed the idea, but still, the Special Counsel may question gates knowledge as part of the wider probe into collusion. Randi kaye, cnn, new york. There is a lot more ahead tonight, including new reporting on what the president s associates are telling him about his twitter habit. That and the posting that might have been one tweet too far because it once again gives a new account of that Trump Tower Meeting randi just mentioned. The question, does it clear anything up or does it just dig the president in a deeper hole . Were keeping him honest, ahead. Later the debate on whether theres a racial component to the president s attacks. 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. A lot of paints say ordinthey can do the job,ver. But just one can behr through it all. Behr premium plus, a top rated interior paint at a great price. Family friendly, disaster proof. Find it exclusively at the home depot. Where were changing withs . 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. Bundle and save big, but now its time to find my dream abode. Right away, i could tell his priorities were a little unorthodox. Keep going. Stop. A little bit down. Stop. Back up again. Is this adequate sunlight for a Komodo Dragon . Yeah. Sure, i want that discount on Car Insurance just for owning a home, but im not compromising. Youre taking a shower . Water pressures crucial, scott its like they say location, location, koi pond. They dont say that. Its like they say location, location, koi pond. 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 now perhaps this should be
obvious to most people being investigated for something. Dont tweet about that something. Its Like Fight Club but with twitter and russians. Cnn has learned that this is the seemingly obvious piece of advice that President Trump is now getting from some people around him, do not tweet about the 2016 Trump Tower Meeting. That was the meeting attended by the president s Campaign Chairman who is now on trial, by his soninlaw and donald trump jr. Who decided to meet with a russianlinked attorney with link tuesday the kremlin who was promising intelligence on Hillary Clinton. This was the meeting that was first concealed, and once it came to light was surrounded by a stonewall of misleading statements, obfuscation, and outright falsehoods, lies. The tweet went up yesterday. The president writing, and i quote, fake news reporting a complete fabrication that i am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son donald had in trump tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent. Totally legal and done all the time in politics, and it went nowhere. I did not know about it. Now, before going any further, we should just say this last bit, that he did not know about the meeting is now in question, with sources telling cnn that Michael Cohen is apparently ready to testify that he did in fact know, which would contradict don jr. s sworn testimony to congress. The notion that everyone does it, thats just flatout false, and well talk more about these things shortly. Right now, i just want to focus, though, on the larger item. This is the first time the president of the United States has pointblank unequivocally said, and were going put up the tweet again, that, quote, this was a meeting to get information on an opponent, period. Now remember, before word of the meeting even broke, donald trump jr. Was lying about meeting any russians in any campaign capacity. Heres what he told the New York Times way back in march of 2017. I did excuse me. Did i meet with people that were russian . Im sure. Im sure i did, but none that
were set up. None that i can think of at the moment, and certainly none that i was representing the campaign in any way, shape, or form. So that was a lie. Actually, it was three lies. No Campaign Meetings, none that were arranged in advance, and none he could remember are three lies which began falling apart several months after they came out his mouth. On july 8th, 2017 the times revealed the meeting had in fact taken place a full year before. So then this became the new line. A statement allegedly crafted by don junior and his lawyers, at least thats what the president s lawyers said at the time. Well goat that the Statement Read in part, we primarily discussed a program about the adoption of russian children, but it was not a Campaign Issue at the time, and there was no followup. The president , with the help of his team, tried to distance himself from that statement, first totally and then less so and then finally really not at all. More lies. But those will come later as well. So on the 8th, we merely had that statement. Again, allegedly written by don
jr. And his lawyers saying the meeting was primarily about adoption policy, not campaign politics. Now even then, we knew and reported that adoption policy for the russian government, its not about adoptions. Its about sanctions. Not adoptions. So even in that statement, the notion that this was a meeting about helping orphans, it just didnt hold water. Then the very next day, the New York Times reported it most certainly was about the campaign, specifically about getting Kremlin Dirt OnHillary Clinton. So then the story from don jr. , then it again changed once the times reported that. Hoping to seem transparent, don jr. You may remember released some emails showing this is exactly what he had been promised. Kremlin dirt on Hillary Clinton. And his emails also showed he was eager to receive it. And i quote from the mails, if its what you say, he wrote to one of the go betweens, i love it. And remember, just a few months earlier, presumably with the memories that much fresher in his mind, he said he couldnt remember any Campaign Meetings with russians. And when he did, it wasnt about Leveling Dirt on Hillary Clinton, it was about adoptions. Just a couple months later don junior for reasons that still dont make much sense, he decided to go on fox news. Did you tell your father anything about this . No. It was such a nothing. There was nothing to tell. Nothing to tell. So now his memory refreshed about this meeting and what it was really about, he also remembered that he certainly never told his father about it before or after. Never told his dad, despite the fact that don jr. Had suddenly been told the russian government was supposedly supporting his Fathers Campaign and had dirt on Hillary Clinton. Thats pretty big news. Allegedly he never told his dad that was big news. Never mind donald trump has been handson his entire life, was handson his campaign, wanted to be in the loop. Right above the floor each others and the dad and son spoke often. Never mind trump promised a
speech and after the meeting was allegedly bust, that speech was never given. To continue distancing the president from this meeting after the story broke, the president and his team denied any knowledge of the meeting. Listen. Did you know the time that they had the meeting . No, i didnt know anything about it. He was not aware of the meeting, did not attend the meeting and was only informed about the emails very recently by his counsel. So then when it was reported that the president on Board Air Force one had dictated a statement that was released by don jr. About the meeting being about adoptions, the president s team denied the president had done that. Listen. He certainly didnt dictate, but, you know, like i said, he weighed in, offered suggestion, like any father would do. Thats what Sarah Sanders said when faced with factual reporting. Her answer was kind of a half acknowledgment which became a fuller but still a dishonest acknowledgement in a letter from the president s lawyers to Special Counsel mueller. They wrote, quote, the president
dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son. Sarah sanders said he didnt dictate. The lawyers, when they actually had to write the Special Counsel said oh yeah, he did dictate. Publicly on tv the lawyers were saying the president didnt dictate the statement. Privately, in a letter the lawyers admit yeah, he dictated, but it was short and it was accurate. But it turns out that too wasnt the whole truth. Yes, the president dictated it. Yes, it was short. No, it was not accurate. The statement mentioned adoption, not attempted collusion which the president and his defenders once denied until that story also shifted. Last week it became if we did it, so what . Which i dont even know if thats a crime, colluding about russians. You start analyzing the crime. The hacking is the crime. The hacking is the crime. Thats certainly the original the president didnt hack. Of course not. He didnt pay them for hacking. So now soliciting Government Intelligence from a hostile foreign power to get elected president isnt a crime, which
keeping them honest is far from clear, but is the whole framing of iticize a hys a hypothetical which is really interesting because the president actually flirted with admitting this meeting was about getting dirt on Hillary Clinton when the story first broke last year. Listen to him on the 13th of july last year, standing next to the president of france. And that is after the president had dictated the Air Force One response claiming the meeting was about adoptions. I do think this. I think from a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting. Its called opposition research, or Even Research into your opponent. Politics is not the