So glad to have you with us. And we have breaking news. The president angry, lashing out, going off on twitter by attack Robert Mueller, the free press, and even threatening a Government Shutdown if democrats wont agree to pay for his border wall. The president arrived at the white house just a few minutes ago. Its unclear right now if hell continue his tirade once he settled in for the night. Its also unclear what exactly has set him off. But it could be a number of things, as weve told you. His former attorney and loyal friend Michael Cohen appears to be ready to flip on him. Sources say cohen is willing to tell mueller that trump knew in advance about that infamous 2016 trump tower meeting, the one with the russians, Offering Dirt on hillary clinton. And on top of that the president has learned along with everyone else that cohen has been secretly recording their private conversations for who knows how long. We played one of those tapes for you last week. Its the one where trump and cohen discuss whether to pay off an alleged mistress by cash or check. And today trumps attorney rudy
giuliani is claiming that tape has been doctored. He abruptly ended that recording as soon as the president said the word check. We are now what were investigating is why did how did that happen . What actually did happen . What was eliminated . And then hes got to raise that question with every one of these tapes. How many of them are did he play around with . We have determined the fact that he tampered with the tape in the sense that he abruptly midconversation turned it off. We know he didnt do that for a good reason. Reporter cnn White House CorrespondentBoris Sanchez joins us live from new jersey where the president spent the weekend. Boris, lets start with these attacks against mueller. Walk us through what the president is alleging here. Reporter in a series of tweets the president sent out earlier today we saw not only his freshest attacks on the Special Counsel but his most direct against Robert Mueller. The president calling his
The latest news and information from around the world with host Ana Cabrera. Prosecutor paul cowen. These attacks against mueller. We learned within the last few days mueller is actually scrutinizing trumps tweets as part of his Obstruction Of Justice investigation and yet the president here is tweeting all about him. If you were still a white house lawyer, what would you tell the president right now . Look, ive said time and time again, i think the president is well served talking about all the good things that are happening right now with the economy and the tax cuts and Regulatory Reform and attacking Robert Mueller is not the best use of his time. Does it hurt him . I think it just distracts from the good things like i said, from the good things that are going on. I dont think it puts him in any more or less legal jeopardy. But it certainly distracts from all the good things that the administrations accomplishing. Paul, a lot of news has broken over the last few days, and to jims point there was good Economic News on friday. And yet here goes the president , on his twitter tirade, on the attack. What do you think set him off . The latest news and information from around the world with host Ana Cabrera. Theres questions on both sides as to what was said, what actually released the tape, whether there was a violation of attorneyclient privilege as a result of it. All these things are Big Questions at this point in time. But you know, jim, i think what really is amazing about the whole thing is given all of those problems with the tape, and i agree with you that they were there, why did they waive attorneyclient privilege and release the tape . They did it because they thought the tape backed up the president. And now giuliani is saying the tape has been tampered with, the tape is fraudulent and cohens a fraud. So the president is not being well served by this defense, which changes the storyline every other day. What do you think about that . Im not sure the giuliani the president s team waived that attorneyclient privilege. This was a tape that was supposed to not be available as part of the investigation. Theres a real question as to whether they went to the Special Master and asked for that that hasnt become public one
way or the other at this point in time, whether informed consent occurred as related to that tape and who release the tape. Pts a chicken and egg issue there. Nonetheless, the tape is public and now that the tape is public certainly giulianis going to want to defend the president as it relates to the contents of that tape. No question. But jim, we have confirmed that the president s legal team did waive Attorney Clooint Privilege for that tape. As far as that being out in public, thats one thing. But they waived attorneyclient privilege and allowed that to be put forward as evidence as part of this investigation into Michael Cohen. They thought it was going to be if they did, they did. And if they waived it, then thats then the result is the fact that the tapes out there anyway. For everyone to hear. So the result is still the same. I think at the end of the day, though, the bottom line is theres no indication that there was ever a payment made. Its much ado about nothing as it relates to the tape because
no actual payment was made as a result of those conversations. At least thats what we know today. I want you guys to listen to Rudy Giuliani this morning trying to discredit cohen. Hes destroyed himself, chris, as a witness. Ive prosecuted 5,000 cases. Id never prosecute a case on this guys testimony. First of all, he talks to the press. He may be taping me. Second, hes contradicted so many times that you begin your crossexamination by saying which set of lies are you going to tell us today, michael . Lets go through them now. Paul, does giuliani have a point . Well, no. I mean, you dont criticize the other side by saying hes talking to the press while youre talking to the press. I mean, seriously. I think that giuliani thought and had vetted cohen. He had met cohen and cohen had represented the president for a long time. You would think when giuliani went out and started praising the honesty of cohen that would have been based on some kind of
reasonable lawyers investigation. And now a week later he says the guys a liar. I dont think giulianis doing much of a job for the president with respect to Michael Cohen. Jim, ill give you the final thought. I think he has done a complete 180 on cohen. The fact that cohens taping ive been a lawyer a long time. Ive never taped one conversation with any of my clients. Thats certainly an oddity at best as it relates to the practice of law. Its lawful to do in new york. No question about that. Because all you need is one side to consent to that. But certainly not something that a lawyer typically does in the common practice. And its a violation of the ethical rules for lawyers in new york. He could be disbarred for doing it. It may not be a crime in new york, but it is Improper Conduct even in new york. Important last point there. Paul cowen, jim schultz. The death toll rises as Monster Wildfires spread across
get ready for midterm madness. In 100 days voters will deliver their verdict on President Trumps first year, two years now, in office. And while the Political Landscape could shift dramatically in three months, root n right now the wind is at democrats bank. Cnns chief National Correspondent jong king explains 37. 100 days now to the midterm elections. New cnn rankings, brand new rankings, give the democrats even more reason to feel bullish about their odds of retaking the big prize. Control of the house of representatives. To the Campaign Trail in a second. First, though, a reminder of the current stayed of play. Lets look at the house today. 235 republicans. Thats the majority. Democrats in the minority with 193. But thats the State Of Play here in washington. Lets take a look at our new rankings out on the campaign
optimistic. More republican seats moving from the red into the competitive side of our map here. Another reason the democrats are optimistic heading into the final 100 days their standing today is even better than it was at the beginning of the year. They were optimistic then. Look at the republican numbers. 177 solid at the beginning of the year. Down to 158 solid now. More seats have moved from dark red, solid republican, this way, toward the democrats. The democratic numbers are up. 182 solid now, up from the beginning of the year. So this map looks good for the democrats now 100 days out, even better than it was in january. A lot can happen between now and then, but heading into this final stretch democrats believe their odds are quite good of retaking the biggest prize this november. Control of the house. Our thanks to john king. Joining us now, cnn president ial historian Timothy Naftali and the Washington Bureau chief for the chicago suntimes, lynn sweet. The traditional midterm dynamic, especially in one of these election yearss that there are
some flips going on, right . What do you think is going to happen this year, especially now that the economy is so strong . Oh, ana, i can just see this clip being run over and over again when i make a prediction that turns out to be totally wrong. Heres what i think people should be looking for. Right now the president s Approval Rating is so low that if you compare that to president s with similar low Approval Ratings in a midterm period you can expect to see a switch, a large number of seats go away from the president s party to another party. Thats if we follow precedent, right . Theres Something Else thats very interesting, however, which makes this different. Im not saying it changes the outcome. It makes it different. The president is now in part running against his own party. In the sense that todays tweet, where he talks about he wants funding for the wall and he wants funding for tougher immigration laws, hes saying to republicans, if you dont give me what i want im going to go
out there and im going to campaign, im going to campaign for trump people, people who only want what i want, which means the dynamic were going to see in the fall is that not all republicans are going to get the support of President Trump. And to hold on to his to hold on to the republican majority in the house he needs every republican to win. Interesting dynamic when you take a look at how hes made enemies with some in his own party. But regardless of whether republicans want the president to stay quiet or not, he apparently has no plans to do so. Hes going speak his mind. Heres what he told fox news. You know, the famous quote, its the economy, stupid. Well, if its the economy, then we should do very well. I just dont know any reason why we shouldnt do well. The economy is the strongest ever and i think thats going to have a very positive impact and i am going to work very hard. Ill go six or seven days a week when were 60 days out, and i will be campaigning for awful these great people that do have
every district. By the time President Obama was in his second term, he didnt have a calling card open in every place either. So you have to pick and choose. Thats what President Trump will discover. And he will be very powerful in the districts where he does need to nudge someone across the line. But those are districts probably that were going to be in his favor anyway. The president has been tweeting a whole lot today, as weve been discussing. Hes playing shutdown politics. He said i would be willing to shut down the government if the democrats do not give us the votes for border security, which includes the wall, must get rifd lottery, sxach release et cetera, and finally go to the system of immigration based on merit. We need great people coming into our country. Tim, do you think republicans really want to be talking about a shutdown 100 days before the election . No. But i think President Trump does. And i think President Trump is saying this because he believes the turnout will determine the midterms and hes going to turn
out his base. And he is hoping that he can beat the odds in 2018 that he beat in 2016. I am sure there are people trying to tell the president this is not the best approach. Or maybe theyve given up. But he doesnt care. He won in 2016 playing the game the way he wants to play it. Hes trying do it again. He thinks by pressing the buttons that his base care about they will come out and vote and it will be enough of them to hold on to a slim majority in the house. Lynn, i want to turn to the president s attacks against the media. The president met one on one with the head of the New York Times, weve learned, a. J. Schulzberger. New york times is revealing disturbing details 6 that meeting. The Newspaper Writing mr. Schulzberger recalls telling mr. Trump at one point that newspapers have begun posting arms guards outside their offices because of a rise in threats against journalists. The president , he says, expressed surprise they did not already have armed guards. At another point mr. Trump expressed pride in polarizing the phrase popularizing the phrase i should say fake news and said other countries had
begun banning it. Mr. Sulzberger responded that those countries were dictatorships and that they were not banning fake news but rather independent scrutiny of their actions. Lynn, what is trumps end game here . I mean, staterun media . Well, his end game is the multiple stories in this is he still has a craving for the approval of the New York Times. And that is evidence, even though thats the newspaper that one of the newspapers thats under attack because he gave time to the publisher. I dont know whether or not this very Important Message that was sent to the president today by the publisher of the New York Times will have any impact at all. Someone who is proud of popularizing the term fake news may not care what the publisher of the New York Times thinks about it. Sad to say, but what is
important is that the News Organizations keep doing its job, as cnn does, as the suntimes does and every one of our colleagues do, because the stories still have to be done and maybe at some point President Trump will understand the news and the job of the news in a different context. I dont think so. I think whats important is for us to make sure that the infection that the president is spreading when it comes to journalism and the free press in america is limited. Tim, are you surprised to hear this from an american president . One of the things that keeps us together is a combined joint love of our constitution. When mr. Trump, president ial trump, speaks this way, he is not speaking like someone who loves our constitution. At the basis of our constitution is the First Amendment. He is president of the united
states. So an american president is saying this. It is unprecedented for an american president to say this publicly. Nixon sometimes said it privately. But the fact of the matter is its up to americans to decide if this is what they want to hear from their president and whether their love of the constitution, which as i said binds us, requires or not an understanding and commitment to the First Amendment. I spectacular americans are committed to the First Amendment. And may i just add, tim and ana, very quickly, for a president to be it would be something if the president could be as committed to the First Amendment as he is to the second. Lynn sweet, Timothy Naftali. Well leave it there on that poignant moment. Thank you. Coming up, our special series about the Alaska Wilderness and the trump administrations controversial plans to drill and mine there. In nearby catmine National Park my team learned firsthand that this part of alaska is nirvana for bears. Tech at safelite autoglass, tech yes maam. Tech vo saving her time. [honk, honk] kids bye tech vo . So she can save the science project. Kids whoa kids vo safelite repair, safelite replace i knew at that exact moment. Im beating this. My main focus was to find a team of doctors. Its not just picking a surgeon, its picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. Visit cancercenter. Com breast whoooo. You rely on tripadvisor so you dont miss out on the perfect hotel. But did you know you can also use tripadvisor so you dont miss out on the best price . Tripadvisor searches over 200 Booking Sites to find the hotel you want for the lowest price. Saving you up to 30 so you can spend less time missing out. And more time paddling out tripadvisor. Visit tripadvisor. Com or download the app i never thought id say this but i found Bladder Leak Underwear thats actually pretty. Always discreet boutique. Hidden inside is a super absorbent core that quickly turns liquid to gel. So i feel protected and pretty. Always discreet boutique. Welcome to holiday inn thank you wait, i have so