News, analysis and interviews with politicians and observers. Cnns Abbie Phillip is live at the white house. The president just had an event where he met at the white house with republican lawmakers. Did he clarify anything today . Reporter well, nia, the president just let reporters into the room for that meeting. It was originally scheduled to have been closed, but he said nothing. He didnt respond to questions about any of these issues floating around him. He didnt expand on any of his comments or explain, you know, his view of the situation. But what he has been doing over the last day or so, specifically in a lengthy interview with fox news that aired last night and today, is really take the lead in the administrations response to all of these problems. Theres no question the white house staffers were caught by surprise by a confluence of bad news stories. Paul manaforts verdict and also Michael Cohens guilty plea, but President Trump has been the one left to test out various strategies for dealing with these problems, specifically
a lot to discuss today. Abby mentioned there basically the strategy of this white house. Katherine, do you sense theres a strategy that theyve settled on, or is it as abby said, theyre just throwing things at the wall to see what sticks . I think what abby says is right. What weve been hearing from people inside and outside this white house is its not really clear how theyre trying to frame a counternarrative, a response, a way forward. Folks who Go On Cable News to talk about this presidency, to defend this presidency, havent heard much in how they should be sort of explaining this, what they should be talking about. Its an issue. So right now the main person whos talking is the president. As you saw just now, hes saying a variety of different things. And its not really clear how theyre going to move this forward. I think it is clear, though, that to the extent they do have a strategy, its sort of the old playbook, right. Its deny any wrongdoing. We heard that from Sarah Huckabee sanders yesterday,
like i didnt live without him. I understood Michael Cohen very well. Turned out he wasnt a very good lawyer, frankly, but he was somebody that was probably with me for about ten years. And i would see him sometimes. I would see him sometimes. Not very often. Its like i talked about manafort. Manafort was involved in the campaign. He was the chairman who helped the president win the campaign, of course. The one strategy i do see is steve bannon brought it up, so did trump this morning. This idea of the democrats are obsessed with impeachment. I think that is one strategy youre going to see. If you listen to nancy pelosi, She Expressedly keeps saying were not going to do impeachment. Shes the democrat. That said, you are seeing this idea in terms of rallying the base. I think youre going to hear that more and more. And this idea, rachael, that whatever cohen did wasnt really a crime. You heard that from donald trump in this interview. Right. Im not a lawyer, so im not going to try to speak to the legal analysis of that, but yeah, obviously thats part of the Talking Point right now. I do think there are questions right now about cohen going out there saying the president told me to do this. Well, lawyers are saying hes going to have to prove prosecutors are going to have to prove intent, and did the president know this was a crime. It probably wont be that hard to do that, given he used to tweet a bunch about john edwards and his mistress situation and when he paid money to keep that quiet. Then he get in trouble with the law. The president back then, you know, used to tweet about that. So clearly he knew that was not allowed. But yeah, of course thats going to be a way to deflect right now. I think privately, out front, they are obviously pushing back on this, calling it a witch hunt, but there was a great nugget in the post story this morning where the president apparently called in his top advisers and said, tell me honestly how bad is this. That just shows the tweet in the
middle of the night last night that hes worried. Hes staying up and concerned. Yeah, that tweet at 1 00 a. M. , which was no collusion, rigged witch hunt again, part of what hes been saying for many months now. Weve heard that hes upset about betrayal. You see that also with these questions of loyalty. Loyalty is so important to him. The idea that someone would flip, as hes putting it, and you heard his complaints about flipping this morning on fox. This goes very deep. In this way, he very much sounds like a mob boss. This idea that snitches get stitches, a kind of petty gang member philosophy. Its alarming to hear the president , the Chief Executive of the country, the way hes talking about flipping done by prosecutors everywhere. Hes attacking that. Hes attacking the Attorney General. You also hear this language other places. Duncan hunter now under indictment is saying, hey, they just make it up. The doj is full of liberals. This is now affecting other people, the way trump is talking about it as if the prosecutors around the country are led by Jeff Sessions, a very conservative person, whos the head of the justice department. Speaking of Jeff Sessions, Lindsey Graham commented about Jeff Sessions and whether or not there will be a new Attorney General at some point. Heres what he had to say. I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the department of justice. Clearly Attorney General sessions doesnt have the confidence of the president and the president has it right to have an Attorney General he feels comfortable with. Jeff sessions has done a fine job. Hes an honorable man. Replacing him before the election to me would be a nonstarter. The idea of having a new Attorney General in the first term of President Trumps administration, i think, is very likely. This is interesting and new from Lindsey Graham, the idea
this is inevitable not before the midterms but certainly could happen after. There has been a question ever since the president started attacking Jeff Sessions over a year ago that he would fire sessions. The question has always been, well, would the senate, controlled by republicans but very narrowly, would they even confirm a new this was seen as a Political Retribution Act by the president. Whats sort of tying all this together, and i think you can include the president , is nobodys really sure whether there are staff at the white house, supporters in the media and in the Republican Party. You certainly talk to Republican Party on ativperatives about thi have, nobody is quite sure whats coming down the pike next. Everybody is kind of i think that is what has changed from tuesday, this sense that anything could happen. Right, and we have to be careful to not overplay our hand before we know what everybody else has. Most importantly what mueller
has. Up next, if youre wondering whether or not the president will pardon Paul Manafort, just remind yourself hes been through hardships before, and he always does just fine. Ive always had controversy in my life, and ive always Successe Succe succeeded. Ive always won. I would honestly give myself an aplus, and so would many other people. With an Ingredientr Brain originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. So i feel lighter. Try metamucil, and begin to feel what lighter feels like. Im a fighter. Always have been. When i found out i had agerelated macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. Only Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. Thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Also, in a greattasting chewable. But how do i know if im im getting a good deal . I tell truecar my zip and which car i want and truecar shows the range of prices people in my area actually paid for the same car so i know if im getting a great price. This is how car buying was always meant to be. This is truecar. And Bank Fraud Counts earlier this week. He faces up to 80 years in prison. Manafort will stand for a second trial next month in d. C. The white house has also avoided a direct answer but continues to distance the president from the situation. Is the president now planning on or intent on pardoning Paul Manafort . The manafort case doesnt have anything to do with the president. Does it come up . Im not aware of any conversations regarding that at all. Is mr. Manafort a simple candidate for a president ial pardon . Once again, thats not something that has been up for discussion. However, the president s attorney Rudy Giuliani doesnt seem to have gotten the memo, telling the New York Times two separate things apparently in the same interview. Quote, mr. Giuliani said the two had discussed the political fallout should mr. Trump grant a pardon to mr. Manafort. The article later says mr. Giuliani said a pardon was not under consideration. Is this just trying to muddy the waters . You look at the fox interview today, the president didnt rule it out. He didnt really answer the question. He did speak, you know, quite favorably about Paul Manafort. The white house is trying to put some distance between this. Theyre obviously not trying to signal anything. But we also know that the president likes pardon power. Theres only so many things he can do unilaterally. It is a muscle or a tool hes flexed. Weve seen it. He commuted sentences for nine people, some of those most famous ones joe arpaio, scooter libby. Hes also kind of using the language of pardoning when he talks about manafort. He essentially frames him as being railroaded by the Justice System in the same way he framed pardons for these folks. And looking at it from his
perspective, there really doesnt seem to be a case against it. If there were evidence that, for instance, republicans in his own party would really put up a fight about this and say this dle clearly shows obstruction of justice, which is what a lot of democrats are arguing, then maybe there would be a risk. He seems to use these pardons as almost political tools, to shore up support on his side of his base. I think a manafort pardon would do that. I dont really think he would suffer from a lot of political consequences. If hes going to be impeached by a democratic congress, its not going to matter if he pardons manafort or not. But Pardoning Manafort would seem to give him some shortterm political benefit. And there are a few republicans who are talking about this as a political risk. Here are a few on the hill talking about it. Mr. Manafort, though he was a friend of the president , he should be held accountable for his illegal activities. I hope the president doesnt pardon him. I dont think hes considering that, but it would be a terrible
mistake if he did, just to pardon someone because they were a friend of the president. I dont think a pardon under these circumstances would go over well. We understand the president has the Constitutional Authority to do so, but we think politically it would be a very serious mistake. The things theyve warned him, please, do not do this, like firing mueller, he actually often does not do. You feel like these are stern warnings . Stern for the republicans in congress of today. I think they are trying to say please. The other thing is a pardon would have mattered more if it happened in january of this year. A lot of the witnesses im not sure the pardon would hurt
muellers investigation the way it would have in january. Im willing to bet a lot of those republicans saying, oh, no, dont do a pardon right now. If he were to do a pardon, they would change their tune to explain it away. But theyre worried about one thing, the midterm elections. Republicans have turned a blind eye to a whole bunch of things that the president has done that they find unsavory and totally unethical. But they just want to be reelected. They want to keep control of congress. They have a bunch of Swing Districts where there are people who are independent minded that dont necessarily identified as republicans or democrats. They dont like the president. If they see him pardoning someone to potentially get himself out of hot water, you know, theyre going to vote for democrats. One of the things we heard recently was from a Paul Manafort juror, who had interesting things to say about the deliberation. Here she was talking about it last night on fox news. Tlfhere was one holdout. We all tried to convince her to look at the paper trail. We laid it out in front of her again and again. She still said that she had a
reasonable doubt. Thats the way the jury worked. We didnt want it to be hung. So we tried for an extended period of time to convince her, but in the end, she held out and thats why we have ten counts that did not get a verdict. Manafort likely to face a much tougher jury, even though that one was pretty tough in d. C. When he goes on trial next month. Yeah, certainly the manafort story is not over. Legal troubles are not over. Its also interesting as a first. Its the first test and the first outing for the mueller team. A lot of people feel like it was a real Vand Kaindication for th get this kind of verdict. I think it was also just nice separately that juror was an out
and out trump supporter. She says she still supports him and is going to vote for him in 2020 but felt compelled because of the evidence. Its nice to see people put those partisan instincts aside, at least regular people, if not those in washington. A fun quote from bill crystal on what we saw yesterday and the Pardon Speculation thats running wild. He said, you think yesterday was lit . You havent seen anything yet. Wait until the day next year when president Pence Pardons donald trump. I told bill what lit means. Now no one can use the word lit. Next, how are lawmakers dealing with the president s legal worries and impeachment talk . Just ask someone whos seen it all before. What has it been like to be here in the senate as a republican . Its a lot like the clinton years. Like every day theres something new. Im just trying to keep my head down. Yet . 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 a you have a real motorcycle . And real insurance, with 24hour customer support. Arcade game wipeout oh well. I retire as champion. Game hog champion. The others . Nope for a limited time, when you get fast, reliable internet, you can add voice for just 24. 95 more per month. Call or go online today. Call or go on line today. Itthats why i lovel the daily Cafiber Wfiber choice,ood alone. With the fiber found in many fruits and vegetables. Fiber choice. The number one ge recommended chewable prebiotic fiber. With only 75 days until the midterms, the sudden legal storm surrounding the president and the escalating impeachment chatters is a catch 22 for both political parties. Democratic leaders worry that talk of impeaching the president , if they take back the house, could actually motivate republican voters, and theyre encouraging candidates to completely avoid the i word. Republicans on the other hand, are encouraging incumbents in the tightest races to call out convictions and corruptions and distance themselves from the president despite his ability to fire up the base. We have Congressional Correspondent phil mattingly, whos on capitol hill. Its very much gut check time for both parties on the hill. No question about it. 12 days until labor day, which has always kind of been the official launch of the midterm blitz. Maybe thats less relevant this day and age. It is the time when people start spending money. People start deciding what the message is going to be. Theres an interesting split screen right now. You also need to split it not just between republicans and democrats but also house and senate. Move the senate aside for a second. Republicans in the house, many of which come from districts either won by Hillary Clinton in 2016 or maybe are plus three, plus four, plus five districts. They have a different calculation now than a lot of their Base Colleagues have. Because of that, theyve been told now for a couple months, if you need to split with the president , go ahead and do it. Its basically how do you save your seat. If your constituents arent thrilled with the president , that might mean having to do that. On the impeachment issue, we saw it loud and clear yesterday. In the senate, not a single democrat i talked to really wanted to touch the issue. In the house, nancy pelosi sending a letter to her colleagues making sure there are other issues to focus on. Impeachment right now, the view on the democratic side is that is a politically dangerous idea. Talk about oversight, talk about other things like health care. Impeachment off the table right now. Phil, we just got some news from the Judic