Transcripts For CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon 20180320 : v

CNNW CNN Tonight With Don Lemon March 20, 2018

After weeks of informal conversations. One source says the president has gone back and forth on whether hell even agree to an interview. That as we have learned the president is more and more agitated as he realizes the investigation is nowhere close to ending. You might have guessed that from his twitter tirade over the weekend. Look at that. Now two more sources tell cnn President Trump is adding a new attorney to his team. One who has pushed a Conspiracy Theory that the president is being framed by a group of fbi and Justice Department officials. Weve got news tonight on departing trump aide hope hicks as well ask why shes really leaving the white house. Conservative commentator Carrie Sheffield and jack quinn who was a Clinton White house counsel. Jack, a source tells cnn that representatives from trumps team and muellers team met facetoface to discuss topics they want to ask the president about and they want to discuss. Are we getting closer to a meeting between the two . I hope so. I hope that this is not just a pretense on the part of the president and his lawyers to for him to walk away and say that he couldnt come to an agreement, and therefore he wont testify, and use this as more evidence of the fact that the deck is somehow stacked against him. So i hope that they can agree on terms. Having said that, its going to be exceedingly difficult for mr. Mueller to really trim his sails on what subjects are permissible and what ones are ruled out. You know, he really needs to have the president in an op can assess his veracity, follow up on leads that may come from the conversation as it proceeds. So its very hard for the investigators to agree that certain things will not be subject of inquiry. The very fact that they ask for something not to be permissible raises ones antenna. What if he refuses . What happens . If he refuses, i expect he will get a subpoena. And i expect that that would be enforced by a court. I expect that the president s people would take it all the way to the supreme court. And like president nixon, i expect that they will lose. The Washington Post is reporting that trumps lawyers have given muellers descriptions of key moments under investigation to limit the scope of an interview. Will that be enough to satisfy mueller . Absolutely not. I cant imagine how that would. Look, unless its a subject matter that mr. Mueller and his team are not interested in. But if it goes to the heart of the investigation, namely, whether or not there was a conspiracy that involved americans, including people involved in the campaign or who were later involved in the transition or the administration, i cant imagine mr. Mueller allowing them to rule out subject areas. We are also learning from the New York Times that mueller has provided President Trumps lawyers with a list of questions as part of ongoing conversations to set up an interview with the president , along with learning that the two sides have met facetoface, dine that the special counsel is being accommodating to the president here . I havent been in every meeting, so i cant speak to the tone or tenor of the meetings or the conversations. I do think if the president chooses to respond through written testimony, i think that would be perfectly valid to make sure theres no entrapment. In terms of the question of it appears things are moving beyond just the question of collusion in 2016. It appears from everything weve seen there is no evidence of this. Moving into questions of obstruction. By my account, if you present me with Something Else or anybody else, right now what we see is there is no evidence of any sort of obstruction, because one of the key factors by the definition of obstruction is that someone has to directly impede an investigation. Yet we know from i dont think that to be true. We know from jim comey he testified to the Senate Intelligence committee that three times he told President Trump that you are not under investigation. Therefore, by that definition, there was no sort of impedement i dont know that be true, that there is no evidence of anything. We keep hearing from commentators but we havent heard that from anyone on the team. The notion of that there is collusion, collusion is not a legal term. Thats a nebulous term thats easy for Trump Supporters and for pundits to throw around because no one can ever be convicted of colluding. They can be convicted of conspiracy, of money laundering, of lying to investigators is there evidence of conspiracy . I dont know, im not there. So there isnt, therefore no, you cant say there isnt hes innocent until proven guilty. Thats absolutely true. We dont know of evidence, you cannot definitively say there is no evidence. We dont know theres evidence mickey mouse colluded youre proving my point. No im youre proving my point, no one knows that, except for the investigators i dont want to go down this rabbit hole, because no one knows. You cant sit here and definitively say theres no evidence of everything anything, because were not inside the investigation and it has not yet been determined. If i may, of course we dont know. We dont work for bob mueller, were not privy to the information. He is investigating. And so we have to wait until his investigation is complete and all of these protestations that there isnt evidence is simply a way of saying he shouldnt do what he needs to do to assemble any evidence that might there be thats really not fair because i never said that no, no i never said he shouldnt be allowed to do what he needs to do. I think its fashionable where you live to go to cocktail parties and try tone sult the president as much as you want when. Excuse me . There are millions of people who want to get things done. You dont know me, you dont know where i live, and im not sure what youre talking about. You live in the beltway, correct . I take exception to that you live in the beltway. What does that have it has to do with the fact you live in new york city, dont you . There too. Hang on, jack. Let me make a point here. You live in new york city. I do. Do you go to cocktail parties and say disparaging things about the president . I dont talk about politics because i dont live in d. C. How do you know he does . I live in the bell way, thats what people do there. Youre making a gross generalization about about someone you dont know. He was making a gross generalization saying people who support the president hes saying you, by saying what you said, he was insinuating thats what you were saying. You can talk about that. But you dont have to make a personal ad hominem attack on him how he spends his evening insulting the president of the United States then direct your line of questioning or your response to that, and not a personal attack. Okay. Then we go down this rabbit hole. I got to go, this is new reporting tonight. Jack, Maggie Haberman and mike schmidt of the New York Times are reporting trump is considering reshuffling his legal team, weighing whether to dismiss ty cobb while john dowd has contemplated leaving his post because he has concluded he has no control over the behavior of the president. Where would that leave President Trump if that indeed does happen . I think that would be unfortunate if his legal team, at this point in this investigation, fell apart. I really do. I know ty cobb, i think the world of him, ive known joe dejenna have a a very long time, im disappointed in some of the conclusions hes been jumping to but thats neither here nor there. I think the president is best served by keeping his team intact. I would hate for his team falling apart to be once again an excuse to say that this investigation is complete and should be terminated. Thank you. Thank you both. You can never say theres a dull moment on this show, its never a dull moment. I want to bring in democratic congressman denny heck of the house Intelligence Committee live here now, not at a cocktail party. No the cocktail parties are over with, don. Good evening. Whats your reaction to reporting President Trumps attorneys met with muellers team to hash out the details of what the president will discuss in a likely interview . I think there are two chances the president will sit for an interview with director muellers team, slim and none. As they say, slim just left the room. Theres nothing whatsoever in his past or in his history or in how he has dealt with litigation that would suggest he would be willing to subject himself to the possibility of perjuring himself. So i think theres zero chance. Moreover, notwithstanding what he said several months ago about a willingness to do this, i dont think he ever intended to. So President Trump is hiring longtime Washington Attorney Joseph Digenova that jack mentioned to his legal team. Heres what he said on fox news about the russia investigation. Watch this. As weve said from the beginning, that there was a brazen plot to illegally exonerate Hillary Clinton, and if she didnt win the election, to then frame donald trump with a falsely created crime. Thats why the steele dossier was used. It was designed to create a false narrative about trump and his people and to be used ultimately against them if Hillary Clinton lost. Senior doj and fbi officials gained in conduct that was designed to corrupt an american president ial election. What does this hiring tell you about trumps legal strategy and frame of mind . Theres something about the president s tweets and the president s most recent utterances that suggest an almost manic nature, almost desperate nature to what hes doing. In some fashion, im not at all surprised by his changing his legal team. After all, hes changed his entire white house staff, key positions, with more turnover in 14 months than any president in history. This is a little bit more presidency by chaos. Are you concerned, congressman, that the president may attempt to fire mueller . Of course i am. And i think congress ought to pass the legislation that would protect the special counsel. I have no doubt in any mind that what he would like is for bob mueller to be gone. But don, it was i think at the beginning of last week when the president was in san diego, i may have my time frame off, in which he was talking to marines and he made the comment that, you never want to be on the other side of a fighting marine or get into a fight with a marine. He seems to have forgotten, bob mueller is a marine and a decorated marine at that. And that hes a republican as well. A registered republican. He said that it was only democrats on muellers team. Which is not true. Senator Lindsey Graham said he does not think the president has the Legal Authority to fire the special counsel. Watch this. Its not harsh words, its reality. I dont see any reason to fire mr. Mueller. Youre going to have calls to fire him. I think anything directed at firing mr. Mueller blows up the whole town and that becomes the end of governing and the presidency as we know it. And i have zero concern that muellers going to be fired by trump. Zero. He said earlier, remember, it would be the beginning of the end of trumps presidency if he did that. What do you think about that . The president doesnt seem to be someone who follows any sort of rules. No. Not whatsoever. I think weve been inching toward a constitutional crisis for quite some time. Ive said it to you before on your program. And the act of instructing Rob Rosenstein to fire rob mueller, who is the only person, i believe, that has the Legal Authority to do so, would in fact precipitate just such a constitutional crisis. The fact of the matter is, don, we now have definitive proof that americans are very, very hungry for all of the truth behind this. We know this because james comeys book, which has not yet been released, is already a bestseller. People want to know. The Washington Post is reporting that the president s personal lawyers have turned over descriptions of key events in an attempt to limit the contact between the president and the special counsel. Do you think thats a successful tactic for this president . Ive seen this movie before. We saw it when steve bannon came into the House Select Committee on intelligence and offered 20some questions that were preapproved by the white house with oneword answers. It is not a way to get at the truth. It is not a way to conduct an investigation. And oh, by the way, let me remind you House Republicans will vote this thursday to shut this investigation down, when we have just learned about this massive invasion of privacy data, 50 million of us who are facebook members having their data taken by Cambridge Analytica and conceivably used in the campaign, conceivably with the assistance of russians. Congressman heck, thank you so much, i appreciate your time. Youre welcome, sir. When we come back, President Trump may be getting closer to firing Robert Mueller. Will republicans step up and try to stop him . Successful people have one thing in common. They read more. How do they find the time . With audible. Audible has the Worlds Largest selection of audiobooks. Books like peak performance. And endurance. Books that energize and inspire for just 14. 95 a month. Less than youd pay for the hardcover. With audible, you get a creditamonth good for any audiobook. If you dont like, exchange it at any time. No questions asked. 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Com mail letters ship packages all the Amazing Services of the post office right on your computer get a 4 week trial plus 100 in extras including postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again [narrator] at custom ink, we make it easy for you to create custom tshirts and other apparel for all of lifes events. Get Free Shipping and ontime delivery guaranteed. Go to customink. Com to get started today. Breaking news in the russia investigation, sources telling cnn attorneys for President Trump and Robert Mueller had a rare facetoface to discuss specific topics investigators want to talk to the president about. President trump is pretty agitated about the investigation. Lets bring in cnn contributor and New York Times columnist frank bruni. Thank you for coming in. You saw the tweeting this weekend. Lots of tweets. For the first time he named Robert Mueller in tweets. Are we entering a new phase where this investigation, how hes going to deal with it, a widening investigation here . Yeah, i think a couple things have happened that have left him more frustrated and fearful than he was before. One is the subpoena to the Trump Organization. He knows now theyre looking at that, theyre looking at financial stuff, that it wasnt clear they would look at before, that red line he mentioned. Its getting closer to that moment when he has to decide whether hes going to be interviewed or not. When theyre going to have to decide whether to subpoena him, if he does not want to be interviewed voluntarily. On top of that this has gone on now so much longer than the president ever thought it would. Didnt they say the holidays . Yeah, thanksgiving, then christmas, then new years. And if youre donald trump, President Trump, youre saying, why is this taking so long . Youre getting more and more nervous about how deep theyre digging, which is measured by how long its taking. I think youre seeing his frustration and his desire to try to nullify, neuter, whatever the ultimate verdict, judgment is, by saying these people doing it, mueller, mccabe, et cetera, are unreliable. Do you think mccabe is a precursor . Because hes apparently reportedly spent the weekend boasting about firing mccabe and just upset about it, upset about what was happening. But spent the weekend boasting. Do you think him getting rid of this is testing the water to see what would happen if i fire mueller . I think its a great question ask a strong possibility. You know, the way he handled mccabe, hes looking to see what the Republican Party or his republican colleagues in the senate and house say about that, which has turned out to be not a lot. With the tweets about mueller, as you said, very significant. Saturday and sunday, hes naming mueller for the first time in tweets. He had obviously been counseled against that in the past, he had refrained from nothing it, now hes doing that. I think hes trying to test the waters, see what the reaction is. Scarily, the reaction has not been one of outrage by most republicans yor youve heard people you expect, flake, graham, corker. Youve heard them say, whoa, we dont like what were hearing. Mitch mcconnell, nothing from him. Paul ryan released a statement through a spokeswoman. Y

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