Quick final note on what donald trump jr. Told Laura Ingraham today. We mentioned it in our report on the administration shifting story on the trump tower meeting in 2016. You heard donald junior get caught off when asked about his contradictory stories. Heres what he said when he called back. They started playing the recording and then it got cut off. It was a 20minute meeting. Tended up being about essentially nothing that was relevant to any of these things. And, you know, thats all it is. Should have played that right after we aired the first part. The news continues. I want to hand it over to chris cuomo. Cuomo prime time starts right now. Happy to use our time to get the record straight, anderson. Always good to see you. Im brushing my hair just like you. Thats what you get for wearing my suit. I am chris cuomo. Welcome to prime time. Rosie odonnell has reportedly gathered hundreds at the white house for a musical protest. But this aint smiles and show tunes. She is spoiling for a fight. Her history with trump is as long as it is ugly, and she is
here to make her case to you. The president is not in the white house, but he may once again be watching prime time, and if so, the invitation stands. Listen to rosie or not and come on to this show and make your case to this smart and concerned audience, sir. And it would be good for the president to explain his latest apparent admission by tweet. Now trump says that trump tower meeting with a russian operative was about getting dirt on clinton. Remember, thats not what he wrote about that meeting. What will it mean to investigators . And the white house says it is reimposing sanctions on iran. Why now . What changed . What are the risks . We have all the factors laid out for you, and i have a new do. Its monday. Lets get after it. Did you know that there has
been a nightly protest at the white house every day since trumps meeting with Vladimir Putin in helsinki . Well, there is, and youre going to hear about it now because longtime actress and longtime thorn in Donald Trumps side Rosie Odonnell joined the mix and brought all of these stars from broadway with her. Why . Lets find out. Rosie odonnell, thank you for being on cuomo prime time. Thanks for having me, chris. So youre down there in the nations capital. Its being billed as a party with a purpose. What is the purpose . The purpose is to remind people of the truth that lives inside them so that when theyre so confused and lied to by our president and this administration, theyre able to find that thing about america that they love and thats true and thats real and remember that feeling and hold on to that feeling as we go through these next very tumultuous weeks, as we lead up to the election and the Mueller Report finally coming out, that its going to
be very loud, and its going to be very crazy. And we all have to remain focused and centered on the truth. Is it just good vibes that youre spreading there, or do you have a message of what you want to happen with this president . Well, i think most of america wants him to be out although you cant tell that from reading some of the you know, watching fox news or whatnot, which is just like staterun tv in russia at this point. So all we have to do is encourage people to show up, to protest, to use their voice to save democracy. Weve got just a couple months till november, and till then we have to fight with everything we got because if somehow theyre able to rig the elections again, as i believe they did in 2016, then were going to all be in trouble as democracy dies right here on our watch. Well, one step at a time. The russian interference is a known fact. The impact on the election is not a known fact. You believe the actual outcome well was rigged or just that
there were efforts . Yes. No, i do believe it was rigged. I dont believe it was efforts. And if you listen to all of our mainstream intelligence people, they believe it too. They dont believe votes were changed. Well, i do believe that there were exact well, you know the facts, right . Yes. You know the facts. What do i think . Did they come in there and make trump win when every single exit poll and every person in america knew for sure that Hillary Clinton was going to win . Do you think there was anything to do with russia or just a real big swirl for donald trump in these specific areas with the same exact amount of votes that were needed . I dont know. It looks very hinky to me. Heres why i ask you about what this is about because lets say you win. Lets say the democrats win. You get the house. Probably not the senate, but you get the house. Theres a call for impeachment among progressives like yourself. Yes. Two things happen. Well, i dont think its just progressives, chris. There will be a call for impeachment from all those not heard, who are the majority in america. Okay. I give you that fact. Ill stipulate to it for the point of this argument. Okay. So everybody calls out. You dont have the votes. It doesnt happen. You galvanize support for the president , and we are torn more apart in this country. Are you worried about that outcome . No, i am not. I am believing in the american people. I believe in this country. I believe in what it was founded on. I believe in the constitution. I think that on election day, were going to show up in a huge way, in a way that we havent ever seen before in the United States. And people have just really had enough. Theyve had enough of a president who separates families and puts babies in cages. You know all of the catch phrases. Every day he does something worse than the day before, and he tops it and tops it and tops it. I believe that trump is loathed in america, that people are embarrassed and ashamed of who he is, and that come election day, were going to stand up at the polls and let him know. And unless he goes in and has the russians kind of fix it like he did last time in 2016, you know, were going to see him
gone. And thats what im waiting and hoping for and hoping that people across the country are inspired to use their own voice in whatever way to get people to know that this country is worth fighting for. Amen on that. The more people get involved, the higher the Voter Percentage is, the more people will get what they want. It will reduce the effects of money on politics. It will make everything better, not perfect, but better. So im all with you. The more people go out and vote their conscience, the better, whatever their conscience is. Heres my other concern. Yeah. There is reason to criticize the president. I am not going to fight you on that point. However, for the democrats to come into mainstream power, so that means that they have what the republicans have right now, the house, the senate, the white house, i think history suggests you have to be more than anti. You have to be pro things. You have to give people a reason to believe. You have to give them some type of sense that captures their imagination and gives them hope. What is that for democrats where they can say not just hes a
liar, hes a bad guy, but heres how well make the economy even better, which is hard given the numbers. That well be even safer than we are because thats what people will be looking to. Well, when you report the economy, you report how it affects the top 1 , or you report how it affects everyone. The economy is doing good if youre a multibillionaire. Its not doing good and the tax cuts didnt do good for the average american. So i dont believe that the economy is thriving with the metrics that you guys are using. But the fact of the matter is hes not only bad because hes a liar. Hes bad because he doesnt know how to inspire people or invoke that emotion in them of truth d and what about his rallies . First of all, people are paid, chris. You know that. People were paid since he went down on the escalator. He pays people to show up at those rallies. That is a fact. But i dont know that thats why he gets Tens Of Thousands at the rallies. I thunk he captures a lot of motion for people. When did he get Tens Of Thousands at the last ral lay . Tell me when . At the tampa i think they only had 9,000 seats and there were people outside, but rosie, ive seen him. He gets big groups of people who come out. He gives themes that resonate. Whatever theyre positive or not, thats up to people to decide. I dont have the facts that his crowds are bought off. But you can look at well, you can look at all the requests for extras to come and cheer with signs for him. You can find those tangible pieces of evidence. Those are not real rallies. You know, when he went down on that escalator, he paid all those people there, calling rapists and mexicans rapists. This is not real what hes doing even though he keeps screaming that you guys are not real. I know he does that. I know he does that, rosie, but listen. Look, ive known you a long time. Youve known my family a long time. I know your mom. And mom would be the first one to say, let him say what hes going to say. You say what you know is true. You always keep your dignity. You always fight the good fight. So thats what we do. When he came down that
escalator, did i see the reporting that there were paid people there . Yes, i did. Did i believe it . Yes, i did. Have i seen it at all of these rallies . No, so im not going to do what the president does. Im not going to say theyre all bought off, theyre all fake, because i think thats b. S. I dont think its true, and im not going to play to it just because i think its satisfying. But you could do the evidence to find out. Sure. We do it all the time. Lead with that story before you play his rally. To play his rally to me is just falling into his hands. I dont play his rallies. I do truth check every night. I do magic walls. I find all these different devices because i want people to know whats real and then they can act on it. Thats why im talking to you because people need to know what youre doing, know where peoples voices are, and then they can make their decisions about which side to join and hopefully theres Common Ground that gets here sooner rather than later. I hope there is Common Ground. People ask me all the time, your sons a marine. How can you have a son whose a marine when youre such a pass fist kind of a person . I love and respect my son, and i can hold two opposing thoughts in my head at one time. One is im terrified something is going to happen to him, and the other is im so immensely proud of the commitment he has given to this country because he believes in this country the same way that i do. I believe in america and what it stands for in the constitution, and this president and administration has done everything they can to undermine it. And its not okay. Its not all right in any way, and we have to use our voices and fight. You do exactly that. Thats why good men and women like your son are fighting for our freedoms. And when somebody serves in a family, the whole family feels it. The whole family sacrifices. So thank you to your entire clan for the dedication to the country. Thank you. And the service of your son. Thank you, chris cuomo. Peace. Lets see. Well be following what happens at the white house, and well see what the impact of this party with a purpose is all about tonight. Now, back to another big story for you. They told us that the meeting in trump tower with the russian operative was about adoption. You remember that . The whole statement that they wrote, the president had no role in. Well, we know thats not true, and now we have the president apparently admitting something thats even more important. Cuomos court is in session, and you need to weigh in. There are the counselors, next. 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. Crisp leaves of lettuce. Freshly made dressing. Clean food that looks this good. Delivered to your desk. Chris Cuomo asks the tough questions to newsmakers in Washington and around the world. Or if you forgot your bike was on the roof rack, you only pay one deductible instead of two for a claim involving both your auto and home. And when you save that much, its almost like it. Never even happened. Thats auto and Home Insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. 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. All right. Cuomos court is in session. Here is the new fact. There seems to be another
crown prosecutor friend or whoever these people were reaching out. They werent soliciting, but they did go to the meeting. And the question is what happened afterwards . And there are some strange coincidences when you look at the indictment, the dates that are in there and other things that we know happened subsequent to that meeting. But ill let my colleague make his case and then respond. Hes smiling wide. But add this to the mix for yourself, professor. One step farther than asha wants to go. If its illegal to solicit and you find out that someone has dirt for you and you know what kind of person it is, and you go there to get it, why isnt that soliciting . And then what do you make of this in context . Well, first of all, it may very well be soliciting, and it may very well be a thing of value. The problem is it would be unconstitutional for a statute to prohibit a candidate from obtaining information from any source whatsoever. Just like the New York Times cant be prohibits from
obtaining information or chris cuomo cant be prohibited from obtaining information, even if the information you have was stolen, even if you know it was given to you by manning or snowden, or daniel ellsberg. The constitution requires an open marketplace of ideas. And you cannot construe a statute that was intended to prevent financial contributions largely to apply to information, to apply to facts, to apply to news. That would be unconstitutional. So youre hitting her with the pong papentagon papers defe. Youre saying that opposition research, dirt on clinton, is information just like if it came to me, asha, and therefore it doesnt qualify under this statute. Absolutely. This is a false analogy, chris. First of all, political campaigns are not news organizations, and here the key word in what Professor Dershowitz just said is the open marketplace of ideas. When you have something happening surreptitiously, under the table, secretly, that is not an open marketplace of ideas. Now, if the Trump Campaign went on tv and said, hey, the russian government just gave us all this stolen information and told the voters that, that would be one thing. I still think it would be a crime, but at least theyre being transparent. When they are concealing the source of that, that is exactly what our open society is meant to prevent. We want people to evaluate information in context. And just to bring this back to the framers of the constitution, they were worried about two things, chris. They were worried about foreign influence and selfdealing. This is why we have a natural born citizen requirement. We want, you know, loyalty. We dont want influence from outside. This is the Federalist Papers 68 where hamilton warns of foreign governments trying to infiltrate our elections. So i completely disagree that this is permissible as some kiekind of First Amendment right. Professor. The statute itself clearly is intended to cover financial contributions. Its always been applied that way. It has never been construed or interpreted then why didnt they say that . Why didnt they say what . Money. Well, they did. They said something of value. Right. But why didnt they say money . But you have to construe a let me be even more specific. Even if they intended to cover this, they cant cover it because it could be unconstitutional. You cannot regulate ideas. The federal government simply doesnt have the power under the First Amendment to prohibit a candidate remember, a candidate is also expressing First Amendment views. He has exactly the same status as the New York Times and as you do. He has the right or she has the right to use any information from any source, and it doesnt matter whether its a foreign or domestic source, and thats why to construe an ambiguous statute that way would violate the First Amendment. And the first rule of constitutional construction is if you have a statute thats capable of being construed in two different ways, you must always construe it constitutionally consistent with
the First Amendment. I hear the arguments on either side, but theres Something Else going on here. Lying, okay . There is lying going on here, professor. There was lying going on about what we were told about this meeting. The statement that was done about it. The president s role in it. And then even when that statement was written, it was deceptive about what actually happened in the meeting, and that seems to be clear on the face of this tweet, asha. So even if it isnt illegal, what does this mean to investigators in terms of looking at a pattern of behavior of how this thencandidate, nowpresident treated these types of issues . It means that they believe that they were doing something wrong, period. That is why people lie. I mean you know that from being a parent and watching your 5yearold. You know, one thing, lets just assume arguendo as we would say in legalese, that these are crimes and that, you know, they did agree, and there is, say, a conspiracy. Theres an affirmative defense
in conspiracy where if you renounce the conspiracy, you say actually, i dont want to do this anymore or i dont want to have anything to do with this, that can be your defense. And, chris, i think its important for viewers to remember that in august of 2016, the fbi went and warned the Trump Campaign that russia was trying to infiltrate their campaigns and influence the elections. And at that point, that was the time for every Single Person who had these sketchy contacts to come forward and say, you know what, thats kind of funny because, you know, two random russians showed up in trump tower. That could have been a defense, and yet at every turn they ha