The latest news from around the world with host Fredricka Whitfield. Lawyer. Hes been lying all week. Hes been lying for years. I mean z now, fred, President Trump has not answered directly cnns questions about Michael Cohens claims, nor about that personal private recording he apparently made of a conversation that he had with President Trump. He has, however, tweeted about Michael Cohen. At one point suggesting that cohen could potentially be making up stories to get him out of legal troubles connected to his taxi business, fred. Boris sanchez, thanks so much. All right, so how did we get here . Lets go back to the week this all happened in june of 2016. Here are the facts. We know the publicist rob goldstone, the man who helped orchestrate the meeting, emailed donald trump jr. To offer incriminating information on hillary clinton. Then just a few days later, then candidate trump offered up this message just two days before
from it. The big question, how much did donald trump know and when did he know it . Team trump has denied time and time again that donald trump knew anything. When did the president learn that that meeting had taken place . I believe in the last couple of days is my understanding. One key point is this is not a situation where the president was involved in this meeting, was not aware of the meeting did not attend this meeting. He didnt know about this meeting until a few days ago . Yes, thats correct. Did you tell your father anything about this . It was such a nothing there was nothing to tell. I wouldnt have even remembered it until you start scouring through the stuff. It was literally a waste of 20 minutes, with is a shame. Did you know at the time . No, i didnt know anything about it. But it must have been a very unimportant meeting because i never even heard about it. No one told you a word, nothing . Nobody. No, nobody i didnt know that. Its a very unimportant sounded like a very
unimportant all right, joining me right now, cnn reporter erica orden and cnn legal analyst and bob muellers foreimer special assistant michael zelden. Cohen said there are no reports of this moment. Instead the reference is its from his recollection. Then perhaps how might it be proven that donald trump did know about this meeting in trump tower . Right. So Michael Cohens statement that trump knew and approved of the meeting, which are two different things. Knowing and approving makes it much more get some greater involvement. But there are going to be witnesses potentially who can corroborate this. Don jr. And manafort and jared kushner, they may not be compelling witnesses but there are others who havent been
identified yet. That may be relevant. Then i have a list of things, fredricka, who i think may be indications of corroboration. One, hope hicks may know something about this. She would be, to me, a key witness to know what, if anything, the president knew beforehand. We know she was on Air Force One when they were writing the statement after the fact, but what did he know before the fact . We know there was calling to a blocked number. That, once unblocked, will perhaps be corroborate of this. And then as you said, the june 7th statement and just the general nature of the father son relationship on this campaign i think would be indications of possible knowledge. I think most importantly if there are other people in the room, as cohens testimony seems to be, we node to know who they are and what was told to them. And then erica, in addition to, you know, who else was there, what their stories are, it is an issue of credibility. You know, donald trump, is he more believable or is Michael Cohen more believable here . Their Track Records on telling truth are to be compared. Ideally if youre a prosecutor, youre to want to avoid a situation in which it comes down to one persons word against the other especially if other people have established credibility issues. Prosecutors would be looking to evaluate or examine any of the other resources that michael was pointing out, any con tem pa rarious notes and any other records. If cohen is telling the truth that the president , then candidate, did know about it, and, in fact, even endorsed this meeting, what are the potential consequences if, indeed, donald trump was not telling the truth . That he did indeed know about
this . There are obviously political consequences for the president for lying to the American Public. Ken starr thought that bill clintons lying to the American Public was an impeachable offense. But my role here is not political. As a legal matter, if the president and his son solicited a thing of value from a foreign national, a contribution in kind, if you will, then that techniqcally violates the Campaign Finance laws. It could be civil. It could be criminal. If the conduct of the meeting, organizers and participants was seen by mueller or anybody else to be some sort of conspiracy to defraud the federal election commission, that could be a criminal offense as well. Im not sure that prosecutors would bring a case like this, but as a technical Black Letter Law statutory violation there are two, the statute that is
implicated. Erica, the trump team has changed its story a lot. It was about adoptions. To we didnt get anything from this meeting. Don jr. Saying, you know, it was a waste of 20 minutes. It was a shame. But then, still, the big mystery would be the intent, how do investigators go about that . Sure. Of course an investigator cant climb inside someones head and figure out what they were thinking at the time so they would look to all these things that were discussing, what someone knew, when they knew it, what they said to other people at the time and how they acted in response to that information would be ways that prosecutors or investigators cant determine someones intent. Then i wonder, you know, michael how does muellers team look at this Public Campaign on
behalf of the president to go at the credibility of Michael Cohen, to leave him out, you know, in isolation, to try to discredit him at all. Doesnt that also help direct investigators about, you know, what is this all about . So i think, fred what you raise is this issue of whether the president can be properly investigating and, you know, theoretically charged with obstructing justice through a series of acts, one of those series of acts being the use of twitter and other public denunciations of his critics. I think that mueller and his team will be looking at these this type of Mosaic Theory of obstruction of justice. Im not sure its a compelling, you know, theory. But i think this will fit into that examination and theyll have to see what pieces of the puzzle they have and then make a
determination of whether that would rise to the level of Obstructive Behavior and, if so, what to do about it. Part of that whole may samos people around donald trump or someone in his orbit is chief Financial OfficerAllen Whistleburg is one of those people, so that he was subpoenaed to testify in this Michael Cohen probe tells you what . Well, wiselburg is the longtime chief Financial Officer for the trump organizations. Hes the one who is reputed to have paid Stormy Daniels and was consulted about the payment to karen mcdougal. If thats all the Southern District of new york is interested in, its really, you know, not much. But if the other district of new york is engaged in a broad ranging financial Crimes Investigation of the trump organization, then wiselburgs
importance to them becomes paramount. Because it also means he reportedly was also part of the Tax Preparations for donald trump too, so he knows everything potentially about how he handled his money and business, right . That would be correct, yes. All right, michael zelden, erica, good to see you both. As if this trump tower bombshell wasnt enough, russias president Vladimir Putin has just invited President Trump to moscow under certain conditions and what does that mean . Plus, a frantic search for three people missing after deadly wildfires. 500 buildings have burned to the ground and more are at risk. Well take you there live. This is not a bed. Its a hightech revolution in sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed. It intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. And snoring . How smart is that . Smarter sleep. To help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. The new sleep number 360 smart bed, from 999. Smarter sleep will change your life. 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
well, esurance makes finding the right coverage easy. In fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of 412. Thats auto and Home Insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. Annual International Army games. Moscow pits its troops against china, india, iran and 28 other countries. Nato Member States were invited including the u. S. , only greece accepted. Thats not the only invitation extended this week, however. Russian president Vladimir Putin announced he had invited President Trump to moscow and in that same speech, putin said he was ready to go to washington. Cnns International Diplomatic editor Nic Robertson joins me now. So whats behind this big reveal . Well, i think, you know, the kremlin was sort of put on the back foot a little bit when President Trump made that very quick invitation for President Putin to have a summit after helsinki and go to washington. Russia typically doesnt, you know, respond quickly and evaluate about the next move its going to make so it seems the kremlin was on the back foot and we heard john bolton there earlier in the week say this
invitation is now thats going to happen next year and now the kremlin comes back and says actually weve extended invitation and President Putin saying he told President Trump that at helsinki. The interesting part of this i think is what russia is saying we can do this, weve thought about it, we can do it, but we want some conditions to be met. Now the kremlin hasnt spelled out what the conditions are but you can bet its a lot to do with the economy, the sanctions on russia now, the sanctions for meddling in the 2016 elections in the United States, attacking the United States democracy. The invasion of ukraine, the illegal annexation of crimea. European union has sanctions on russia as well as the United States and it is hurting the russian economy so undoubtedly putin is looking for a way to get relief. If he wants to continue to have these meetings with President Trump, he needs to be able to show the russian people hes getting something out of it. Some substance. Not just the razzmatazz and the
handshakes. In fact this was President Putin yesterday about trump. Translator you can critique him for what he does and many people do that. But one thing is clear, he is willing to fulfill his campaign promises. So they are, you know, publicly revealing they kind of like each other, respect each other. Yes, you could also say look, you con say that, for sure. I think you can also look at it this way. You know, putin is a calculator, he is a spy, he knows what he wants out of washington, he knows what he wants out of President Trump, and he knows what happens to people who criticize trump. If he came at him attacking him saying lift the sanctions, hows that going to fly . We know trump doesnt respond well to criticism. Putins clearly figured that out and clearly figured out praise is the shortest way to get what he wants out of President Trump and thats the most important thing to him. He needs to deliver for himself and for the russian people. So yes, it is he is showing
support for trump. Look, if President Trump was to win a second term, President Putin is on his last sort of turn in office of six years and is looking to protect his legacy, his money, Good Relationship with the United States, President Trump, is all going to make that easier over the long term. Its that old adage, flattery may get you everywhere. All right, Nic Robertson, thank you. Okay, well, right now this is some very serious business. Its a frantic race against time. Firefighters battling to save thousands of homes as furious Wildfires Rage in california. Together in a single lens. Essilor ultimate lens package. Purchase the Essilor Ultimate Lens Package and get a second pair of qualifying lenses free. Essilor. Better sight. Better life. Does it look like im done . Shouldnt you be at work . [ mockingly ] shouldnt you be at work . Todd. Hold on. [ engine revs ] arcade game fist pump your real bikes all fixed. Man, you guys are good well, we are the numberone Motorcycle Insurer in the country. Wait. You have a real motorcycle . And real insurance, with 24hour customer support. Arcade game wipeout oh well. I retire as champion. Game hog champion. Wmust have cost a lot. A fancy hotel. Actually, i got a great deal. Priceline saves you up to 60 on hotels, but thats something the hotels dont really want other guests to know. I saved about 120 dollars a night did you say you saved 120 dollars a night on a room . 120 a night on a hotel room. Thats a lot of savings i saved even more on my flight. Save up to 60 on hotels with priceline. Does your Business Internet provider promise a lot . Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business gives you gigspeed in more places. The others dont. We offer up to 6 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. Everyone else, no way. We let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. Them, not so much. We let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. The others . Nope get internet on our gigspeed network and add voice and tv for 34. 90 more per month. Call or go online today. Right now, firefighters are racing to save thousands of homes as Wildfires Rage in california. The largest the socalled car fire in Northern California nearly doubled in size since yesterday. Now engulfing nearly 81,000 acres. At least two people have died in the flames. 500 structures have already burned. But nearly 5,000 more are in the fires path. Cnn correspondent dan simon is following the destruction in redding, california, and it is a terrible picture there behind you, dan, so much damage and destruction. Hi, fred. Were getting a better understanding of just the magnitude of the overall devastation. And its just unbelievable. Were a couple miles outside of the town of redding. This is the keswick states
these are terrible conditions. Its expected to reach about 105 degrees today, very low humidity. This area does remain under a red flag warning. Its still very windy. They are continuing to evacuate some areas. They think theyre several days from getting ha inting a handl thing. Right now, an emotional farewell for more vick till tim last weeks Duck Boat Tragedy in missouri. Funeral services for five members of the coleman family. They died after their tour boat capsized during a storm on a lake near branson. Four more Family Members were laid to rest yesterday. In total, 17 people on the boat lost their lives. The National Transportation safety board now says the capitalen of the vessel checked the Weather Radar before starting the tour. The group was given an emergency
briefing, and shown how to use life jackets. Captain and 13 passengers survived. The ntsb is still investigating. Next, a disturbing theory in the mysterious shooting of a houston doctor. Police are now saying he was likely targeted as he rode his bike to work. Well get latest. You guys want . Pistachio. Chocolate chip. Rocky road. I see Whats Going On here. Everybodys got different taste. Well, now verizon lets you mix and match your family unlimited plans so everybody gets the plan they want, without paying for things they dont. Jetsetting moms can videochat from europe. Movieobsessed teens can stream obscure cinema. Its like everyone gets their own flavor of unlimited. chuckles its a metaphor. Simile, not a metaphor. Hm. Well played. vo one family. Different unlimited plans. Starting at 40 per line. Switch now and get 300 off our best phones all on the network you deserve. That will win them over. Crest. He