Anderson Cooper takes viewers beyond the headlines with indepth reporting and investigations. Mcgahn, the Current White House council has been meeting and talking with Robert Muellers team. Theres also the president s former Campaign Chairman, still waiting for a verdict in his tax evasion and bank fraud trial. And dozens more intelligence professionals weighing in against the president removing John BrennansSecurity Clearance. His anger at least on twitter appears to be growing. Bob mueller and his whole group of democrat thugs spent over 30 hours with the white house counsel, only with my approval for purposes of transparency. He then went on talking about mueller. Anyone needing that much time is just someone looking for trouble. They are enjoying ruining peoples lives and refuse to look at the real corruption on the democrats side. The lies, the firings, the deleted emails and so much more. Muellers angry dems are a national disgrace. The president railed against bruce ohrs Security Clearancewhich he is threatening to yank, and also john brennan. Studied the late joseph mccarthy, we are now in period with mueller and his gang that makes mccarthy look like a baby. Mccarthy was a demagogue who routinely twisted the truth. Trumps former attorney and close friend was the lawyer roy cohn who helped mccarthy be that demagogue who routinely twisted the truth. Robert mueller, until the president began taking shots at him, has always been known and praised for being the opposite of mccarthy. But the president would have you believe that mccarthy and mueller are on equal footing. Thats the place were in right now. The place where the gaslight is always on. And where the president and people speaking for him believe truth isnt truth. Just listen to what the president s lawyer had to say about whether the president should talk to robert mueller. What i have to tell you is, im not going to be rushed in
to having him testify so he gets trapped into perjury. When you tell me that he should testify because hes going to tell the truth, and he shouldnt worry. Thats silly, because its someones version of the truth, not the truth. He didnt have a conversation about truth is truth. I dont mean to go, like no, it isnt truth. Truth isnt truth. The president of the United States says i didnt truth is the truth, mr. Mayor, do you realize this is going to become a bad meme. Today, giuliani tried to clean things up. Tweeting, my statement was not meant as a pontification on moral theology. But one referring to the people making contradictory statements. The classic he said, she said puzzle. Sometimes further inquiry can reveal the truth, other times it doesnt. Whatever you think he was trying to say, there is history here. Orwellian language is nothing new from the president s people and the president himself. It began just after Inauguration Day with ridiculous lies about
crowd size. And Kellyanne Conways defense of the lies. Youre saying its a falsehood, and theyre giving sean spicer gave alternative facts. Alternative facts. Doesnt that seem so long ago . The craziness of it is still crisp, theres no Expiration Date on that phrase. The president less than a month ago, in a speech in kansas city, uttered something which orwell himself could have written. Just stick with us, dont believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. And just remember, what youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. Its okay, everyone, what youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. Actually, none of it is. None of it is real, sleep well. Theres no more threat from north korea, these Arent The Droids youre looking for, move along. Before we move along, i have to show you one other amazing
whatever reason, i flashed on an incident from the 1990s, when Boris Yeltsin grabbed the baton from the band leader and tried to lead the band. Everything fell apart. Trump thinks hes able to do anything. And its a result of having yes men and yes women around him for so long. Its a preposterous claim. You have the president today saying even if i am telling the truth, that makes me a liar. You have giuliani saying, truth isnt truth. I mean, it seems like were operating in some alternate universe sometimes. I used the term orwellian, but these are literally things he would have written. Im starting to see giuliani as a left bank intellectual. In philosophy, theres something called coherence theory. Especially postmodern philosophy, the idea that if everybody agrees on something, then its true. Im simplifying. If you take coherence theory, and all trumps followers believe that somethings true, then its reality. To be very serious youre imagining giuliani as a left bank in a beret, with a glass of wine, cigarette. Rapping with sartre and camus. Obviously, you know, but seriously, about giuliani, i cannot help feeling somewhat sorry for him. And theres a lesson in giulianis behavior for all of us. For you, me, for anyone ever associated with the media. You need to know when to get offstage. Giuliani is clearly seduced by the bright lights, big city. He was a star. Everybody respected him. People loved him. He wants that again, instead hes turned into a pathetic travesty of himself, and frankly, he may be a diversion but hes doing great harm to the president by running off his mouth. Inflection point . We have the Manafort Verdict coming. Possible charges against Michael Cohen. Whatever mueller is going to decide. Or frankly, i mean, i feel like ive asked that question a million times over this presidency. I think thats right, every days an Inflection Point of some sort for this presidency. As ive always maintained, i have great faith in robert mueller, we dont know what he has up his sleeve. When i look at it, the context of The Don McgahnTestimony Everyones Making Comparisons to watergate, i think thats wrong. If you read the externals of what muellers doing, it looks much more like a classic Justice Department investigation of a mob boss. You cant get the mob boss, because he didnt pull the trigger, so you go after the money, you go after the tax evasion, money laundering, you go after bank fraud. And you go after perjury, so we shall see what emerges from all of this. But i think President Trump is extremely worried, extremely worried, and that was even manifested in his interview with reuters today. Where he made this off the wall remark about well, he would like to lift sanctions on russia, if a few conditions prevailed. Well, he knows at this point that he cant arbitrarily lift sanctions in russia. Putin knows it, but i believe that our president , our president was signaling vladimir putin, that, hey, im still trying, im still trying. Really, you dont think thats what that was . Theres no other explanation for it. He knows he cant lift the sanctions. I think, as ive maintained all along, putin has a grip on this man, tragic for everybody. Putin may be losing patience and i would love to have heard what was said Behind Closed Doors at that helsinki meeting. If i was betting on one thing that was said, putin was telling him to lift the economic sanctions. Russia is hurting economically. We shall see what mueller comes up with. I cannot help but feel that while trump is a buffoon and many other things besides, what we often miss in the hubbub and the tomfoolery, this is a tragic time for our nation, for our image in the world. For our constitutional order. And so, ultimately, all those goofy remarks by giuliani and kellyanne conway, theyre not really funny, theyre deadly serious. Ralph, the folks in the control room would like me to make those kenny rogers lyrics clear. You got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, know when to run. Ill treasure this moment. Im still thinking of giuliani in a red beret sipping wine. Thanks very much. For more perspective, we bring more commentators. The president telling reuters he could run this, the Mueller Investigation, does that make any sense to you . It makes no sense. And its wrong. If you think about it, the one thing we know for sure, the president is not above the law. If he was above the law, it would say that in the United States constitution. So theres no question that the president cannot take over an investigation in which he is the subject and say, it goes away. If he was the king in a country maybe he could do that. But in a constitutional country like we live, in thats not possible. How rattled does the president appear to be when it comes to mueller . He seems to be extremely nervous, and getting more so by the day and getting more irrational by the day. We have im not reminded of
kenny rogers. But theres another way to look at this, dante in the divine comedy, he wrote, in the middle of our lives, i came across a dark wood, and the straight way was lost. I think were in that very dark wood right now. Because the president is not making sense, he continually attacks people, i saw an account today. Over the course of his presidency, hes issued a tax on 484 individuals or institutions, on top of his 5,000 falsehoods, this is quite a show. Does any of it matter . I mean, this could have been pretty much any night in which the news, this kind of stuff is being reported for the people who believe in him, for his base. Is it just about sowing enough doubt that people kind of throw up their hands . Thats certainly part of his intent. All of this is intended for his
base, whcih is his even protection at this point, because he is in a panic, and lets build on what david was speculating. I talk to people in the white house in the last few days, and they say hes unhinged. Only he knows the facts if hes capable of parsing the facts, hes not making sense in terms of a coherent defense. Rather, hes trying to do everything he can to affect the midterm elections, to reach his base, to put fear into other republicans who may not be part of that base enough to win the midterms. If he does not win the midterms, there is a cumulative effect of everything we are seeing including the Mcgahn Story Is very important. Because what the Mcgahn Story Is, as his lawyer said its not that Mcgahn Incriminated the
president , but he contributed to the matrix of showing the president s Obstruction Of Justice in a very, very definitive way as well as showing the collusion well, we actually, i think we do know some of it, and some of it has been reported. Part of that is indeed about what happened. Ill give you one example. And i think we can reliably say that mcgahn talked about attempts to fire attorney general sessions, by reince priebus, was asked by the president to fire attorney general sessions. Or obtain his resignation. And priebus refused. A few days later, priebus was out. Now, in a skeletal form, that
was reported by vanity fair, its of huge importance in the whole pattern of what trump has done to obstruct goes to what mcgahn talked about. Its part of a matrix, its part of a damning matrix, its not incriminating by itself, as his lawyer said tonight, perhaps. Because his lawyer said tonight, to clarify things, he did not incriminate the president but did he contribute to that matrix . He absolutely did. We have to take a break. Well continue the discussion shortly. Later, Paul Manafort waiting for a verdict. And Michael Cohen waiting for perhaps federal charges. More ahead. Is helping us integrate rooftop solar, which is a very important element of getting us to our Renewable Energy goals. shelee if we can create our own energy, we can take care of this beautiful place that i grew up in. Ancestrydna can open you to a world of new cultures to explore. With two times more detail than any other dna test. You can connect more deeply to the places of your past. And be inspired to learn about the people and traditions that make you, you. Savor your dna story. Only 59 our sites lowest price ever. Smart neighborhoods running on a microgrid. A stadium powered with solar. A hospital that doesnt lose power. Amazing. I like it. Never gonna happen. 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. My entire staff here did not believe i knew the whole lyrics to kenny rogers song. Im very upset. Anyway, talking tonight about trumps conversation with reuters. Saying he hasnt given much thought to stripping Robert MuellersSecurity Clearance. But did not rule it out. As you know, this unfolded at the end of an already busy day characterized by a flood of president ial tweets. David, you see the president throwing out some of the most loaded terms in american history. Attacking the mueller probe, mccarthyism, how john dean was a rat in the nixon administration, hes calling people in the mueller team thugs, the idea that Paul Manafort is getting it tougher than al capone. Does that serve the president well . No, no, i dont think so. What it may serve the president is contributing to an exhaustion factor. People are tired of this torrent of insults. And doing everything except being president. Even so, the clock is ticking
now. You remember Rudy Giuliani has said that were not going to testify at all to mueller after labor day. Its only two weeks away. Mueller doesnt have much time to act. Otherwise this all could be put off until after the first of the year. I think that would drive a lot of us crazy. We want to see a resolution. The idea of it being put off, if there was a decision by mueller not to have anything that could influence the election for 60 days, could he still continue he could still continue his investigation in all this stuff. Its not as if hes releasing information. He would continue his investigation. But he wouldnt do anything that could be public. You wouldnt be serving subpoenas . He would be incredibly cautious about that. To make sure there is nothing that could come out that would look like hes interfering with an election. He wouldnt do anything that might sort of raise public attention during that 60day period. What do you make of the language that the president calling people thugs working on this. Its stunning, i think it is really disappointing. Criminal prosecutors, their job is to follow the law and the facts. And in any case, to argue that they are criminals, going out and being politically motivated themselves, its a sad day. And its completely at odds with the people i know that work in the space. The president is faced with the looming publication of a book by bob woodward. Any sense of whether hes worried about that and how much . That indeed, one of the people i talked to in the last three, four days say thats
something the president has expressed great worry and concern about, about what is going to be in bobs book. Hes terrified about what cohen, his former counsel, his former fixer might say to authorities and what cohen is shopping around in terms of information, what he may have about many matters of interest to mueller. And then we also get back to this question of as evidence, by this throwing around this mccarthyite notion, there is only one mccarthyite that we are seeing in all of this, and that is the president of the United States. You think hes the joe mccarthy here . I dont think theres any question about it, i said something about it back in february on our air. If you look at What Mccarthy did, he attacked the legitimate institutions of the government. He attacked the State Department for having communists in it, he attacked the usia. He attacked the voice of america. He attacked other government departments. He tried to say even as the president and those around him have been saying, he essentially said there is a deep state riddled with communists that we have to be concerned about. And he was making it all up. And, yes, the president has consistently he learned at the knee, as you pointed out, of roy cohen, cohen was more than his lawyer. He was his mentor. And cohens tactics were mccarthys tactics. Throughout his business life, trumps tactics have been cohns tactics and mccarthys tactics and the Birtherism Question is a mccarthyite tactic. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And calling mueller a thug. It is interest ing if you believe joe mccarthy was a not a good guy and bad person. You wouldnt hire roy cohn. Who enabled and worked for joe mccarthy. If you thought joe mccarthy was abhorrent, you know, roy cohn was part and parcel of that. Absolutely. That is John Mccarthy was one of the great villains in american history. He will always be remembered not only for destroying the trustworthiness of many institutions, but destroying the lives of many of the people he attacked. And the way that donald trump goes after individuals and institutions, some 484 since he became president. You know, is a replica of what roy cohn, schooled donald trump in years ago. His whole confrontational, lets take it to the court, bullying style, that comes right out of the roy cohn playbook. Its a dirty playbook. No president has ever used mccarthyite tactics. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Coming up, Rudy Giuliani is taking on john brennan. And the latest from colorado, where charges have now been filed in the murder of a pregnant woman and her two young daughters. 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. Plaque psoriasis or psoriatic art