This hour, ill speak with former u. S. Attorney, preet bharara. First, lets go to sarah murray with more on the papadopoulos sentencing. He got two weeks in prison and a fine. Thats right, wolf. It seems the judge did really believe George Papadopoulos felt bald for lying to investigators and so he will be incarcerated, but not for long. Tonight, George Papadopoulos, a former Foreign Policy adviser to the Trump Campaign, sentenced to two weeks in prison and a 9500 fine. Papadopoulos expressing regret for lying to investigators about his kremlin linked contacts, telling the judge, people point and snicker and i am terribly depressed. His lawyer argued for leniency, saying his client was nay eve and a fool. Its a rigell witch hunt. But claiming trumps comments had done more to harm the investigation than his clients lies. The 31yearold, now the first member of the president s team to be sentenced as part of the russia vest xwags and the whus and its allies had been b eager to down play papadopoulos role in the campaign. It was a volunteer position and again, no activity was ever done in an official capacity. I have no idea why people would think that a volunteer coffee boy like George Papadopoulos would get to the top of this campaign. It was papadopoulos who reveal today a diplomat that he had been told the russians had thousands of emails about hillary clinton. That helped set off an fbi investigation that became Robert Muellers special counsel probe. During the 2016, the young adviser attended a meeting of trumps new National SecurityTeam Including donald trump and Jeff Sessions. Papadopoulos pitched a meeting between then candidate trump and putin. Sessions would later say he discouraged papadopoulos from setting up the meeting. But papadopoulos cently contradicted that, saying sessions seemed enthusiastic and a trumpputin meeting. Responsible e roger stone is still under scrutiny. A comedian and radio show host testifying before the grand jury friday. He claimed he was his back channel to wikileaks, which russia intelligence used to circulate information about the democrats in 201. However the hell did i ever get involved in this mess. A nice guy like me doing in a place like this. He fielded questions before the grand jury. Mainly about his relationship with stone. All with his dog at his side. Bianca didnt bark one time. She was so good in there. Now back on the issue of George Papadopoulos, attorney general Jeff Sessions attorney put out a statement saying when it comes to what happened in that campaign, session stands by his testimony that he discouraged him from setting it up. Only got two weeks in jail, a 9500 fine. I guess he was very, very smart to plead guilty and cooperate. Thanks very much. Lets bring in our colleague, jake tapper trk ak of the lead and the state of the union. Jake, you had a chance to sit down with papadopoulos for an extended interview. Were going to see more of that later tonight. But tell us how that went. It was interesting because b obviously one of the big questions, mysteries, is once George Papadopoulos learned from this professor that the russians were claiming they had Hillary Clintons emails, remember, this is before anyone else knew that thirddegrs happened, the n is, who else did he tell . Anyone in the Trump Campaign . There are reports in the New York Times that a former Trump Campaign staffer remembers papadopoulos sharing that information, but no one has seen any evidence of that. Another interesting thing that happened though was when i pressed him on that, he qualifieded it. He said he didnt remember telling anyone about it, but couldnt say it for sure. Couldnt guarantee it. So that remains an open question. The other thing i thought was interesting is that he said basically that attorney general Jeff Sessions wasnt honest when he testified before congress about the march 016 meeting when he suggested that candidate trump and putin should meet. Take a listen. When did you first meet trump . March 31st at the National Security meeting. A photo of you at the table. Senator session ss there. What was discussed that the meeting in terms of russia, in terms of meeting with putin . As far as i remember, it was i who wrought up anything regarding russia. I was under the impression that an individual i had met in rome, the socalled professor, was able to provide high level connections in russia that would result in some sort of summit or meeting. Mostly for a photo op. So i sat down and you know, i looked the candidates, i looked at candidate trump directly in his eyes and said i can do this for you if its in your interest and the campaigns interest and the collective energy in the room, of course there were some dissenters, but the collective energy in the room seemed to be interested. Was donald trump interested . Candidate, he gave me sort of a nod. He wasnt committed either way. But i took it as he was thinking. Senator Jeff Sessions was there, too. Yes. At the table. What was his response . My recollection was that the senator was enthusiast iic abou meeting between the candidate and president putin. So you say that then now attorney general sessions was enthusiastic about the idea of candidate trump meeting putin b, but he has said the opposite. He says, he testified before congress saying he quote pushed back. When you raised the possibility of a meeting with russia. Thats not true youre saying. I dont remember that. You dont remember him pushing back. You remember him say iing this a good idea. I remember him being enthusiastic about a potential meeting between the candidate and president putin after i raised the question. The lawyer for Jeff Sessions says that the attorney general stands by his testimony before congress ten months ago. When which he said that he pushed back. Of course, wolf, its a question of who do you believe . Sessions has had to go back to congress and mend testimony as you might recall. On the other hand, George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty and was convicted and is going to jail for lying to the fbi. So its up to you to decide who you believe. We have a courtroom sketch of papadopoulos in the courtroom kissing his wife. Only two weeks in jail and 9500 fine if he had decided not to plead guilty and cooperate and it had gone before a jury, he could have gotten b and if he had been convicted, he could be serving a pretty long prison term. Robert mueller and the special counsel, they asked for up to six months in prison for lying to the fbi. They say he by lying really impeded the investigation. So the judge in believing George Papadopoulos and his performed demonstrated contrition, i wouldnt call it a rebuff to mueller, but he certainly didnt take his advice and guidance in sentencing him for only six, only two weeks as opposed to six months. Good point. Thank you very much. Jake for that. An Important Note to our viewers. You can watch much more of jakes intersview tonight. The mysterious case of George Papadopoulos. It will air at 11 00 p. M. Eastern later tonight. Meanwhile, President Trump commented on the sentencing just a little while ago in a rather mocking tweet. Lets duoto jeff. Jeff, tell us more about the president s response. Good evening. A sign of how close the president and his advisers are watching these sentencings unfold, it was just a few minutes after it was announced, the president weighing in like this. Lets take a look. He said 14 days for 28 million. 2 million a day. No collusion. A great day for america. Thats all he said without elaboration of course. We presume he is talking to the cost of this investigation. At 28 million, but that is in fact incorrect. The entire cost of the whole russia investigation is about 17 million or so. The entire cost of bob muellers was around 7 million or so this summer, but the despite that, it was interesting the president weighing in on this. Earlier today when flying aboard air force one, he was asked about George Papadopoulos. He said i dont know him. I barely know him. He distanced himself from him. He was only at one meeting with him during the campaign, but all of this is comeing as this whit house watching this so carefully. Coming on the heel of the president asking his department of justice to investigate and find the author of the New York Times oped. One thing he didnt say, what crime did they b possibly commit. President trump asking attorney general Jeff Sessions tonight to investigate and unmas b k k the author of the anonymous essay. Speaking to reporters aboard air force one today, the president calling in a matter of National Security. Not simply as outrage publicly saying hes ill informed, impetuous and reckless inside the white house. I would say jeff should be investigated the author of the piece was because i believe its National Security. The president is telling supporters their decision in 2016 is being subverted by a bureaucrat. Deep state operatives who defied the voter to push their own secret agendas are truly a threat to democracy itself. I think its backfired. Seriously. Yet the president made clear he is seething. The latest act of resistance is the oped published in the failing New York Times by an anonymous really anonymous, gutless coward. Struggling to say anonymous, but adding today is search is still on for the person responsible for the oped. Were going to take a look at what he had, what he gave, what hes talking about. Also where he is right now. Eventually, the name of this sick person will come out. Asked how criticizing his presidency presents a danger to National Security, he explained. Supposing i have a high level National Security and he has got a clearance. And he goes into a high level meeting concerning china or russia or north korea or something and that guy goes in. I dont want him in those meetings. Two months before the midterm elections, former president obama stepped back on the political stage today with his own message to the anonymous trump official. Theyre not doing us a service. By actively promoting 90 of the crazy stuff thats coming out of this white house and then saying dont worry, were preventing the other 10 . Thats not how things are supposed to work. This is not normal. These are extraordinary times. And theyre dangerous times. Obama has largely remained publicly silent about his successor until today. In a speech in illinois where he called on republicans to take notice of how trump treats the rule of law. It should not be a partisan issue to say we do not pressure the attorney general or the fbi to use the criminal Justice System as a cajole to punish our political opponents. Who has not spoken to obama since his Inauguration Day responded like this. I washed it, but i fell asleep. I found hes very good, very good for sleeping. But trump made clear hes also worried about democrats in the midterm elections, planting early seeds of an argument against impeachment. We will impeach him, but he didnt do anything wrong. It doesnt matter, we will impeach him. But i say how do you impeach somebody thats doing a great job, that hasnt done anything wrong . If it happens, its your fault because you didnt go out to vote. So far, thats all the president has said about sentencing of papadopoulos and he was a former Foreign Policy aide. Weve seen that famous photograph of them from the campaign. And the president was telling reporters earlier today on air force one thats the only time he saw him. He said i dont know him. I distanced myself from him. I saw him sitting on one picture at a table with me. The only thing i know about him, but i guess they caught him up in a couple of lies. He pleaded guilty to lying fbi, but it is one side the president made this tweet mocking this 14day prison sentence just moments before he was set to take the stage at a Campaign Event in south dakota. Hes out there now. Well see if he talks about that during this hour, wolf. Certainly though paying very careful attention to bob muellers case. As they should. Thank you, jeff. Joining us now, preet, who was fired by President Trump as the u. S. Attorney in new york. Thanks so much for joining us. Is there any legal basis for the president s demand that the attorney general jeff session open a full scale investigation into who mowrote this oped in the New York Times . No, zero. If you can contribute a number less than zero, you would have to use a number less than zero. No crime was committed here so theres no crime to be investigated. No disclosure of classified information. No one was even liabled in this piece of literature that was put in to the New York Times and even if there was a claim of liable, thats not a criminal matter the Justice Department is supposed to investigate. A pr exercise by the president of the United States who deoesnt seem to understand how the first ament works although he exercises his on on a fairly regular basis in a way thats destructive. So the idea he would have someone investigated is intolerable in a democratic society. I would like the know the identity of the person. I would prefer they actually identify himself or herself and come out publicly and resign in that way, but thats not the same as saying that person should be investigated by the attorney general of the ice. Top officials in the Trump Administration they were the author of this article in the New York Times. Im sure the president is looking very closely not only at the denials issued by these individuals, but who hasnt issued a denial. Youre a former federal prosecutor. If you were on the case right now, how would you interpret what the president said today, would you see that as an order from the president to launch an investigation . I dont think so. I oversaw an office and would not direct them to start commence investigations by issuing a tweet on a social media platform. I would call them to my office and discuss Going Forward or not on a case. So i dont know if the president separately called attorney general sessions. My understanding is they dont speak much and theyre not very cordial with each other, but i would do what a former colleague said today. Issue a oneword statement saying no, i will not do that. I dont know anybody with a law license who thinks its appropriate to launch a criminal investigation of someone who simply made some statements, whether you like them or not, under the cloak of an nehmety which is permitted. Theres no basis for an investigation here. And i dont know if the president has separately in the proper course of how you manage Agency Issued a directive, but i would not take it as an order if it was on twitter. The president goes further, hes throwing out the word, treason. Clearly, theres nothing treasonous about criticizing the president ooempb if you work for him. Treason is a major crime. Just reich like the president doesnt seem to understand what the rule of law means even though he knows the words, even though aware there is a First Amendment. Aware of the word treason, which he seems to define based on how he uses the term, as personal betrayal of him. Its not the equivalent of acting against your country against an enemy who has been against a war thats been declared. I think the word by the way, some wont like my say this, it gets banded about casually. Also by people on the other side. It has a technical legal term. One of the worst things you could call someone as a legal matter. Youre entitled to the ultimate penalty if convicted in a court of lew of treason and i dont think the fact theres been personal treachery by someone who works at administration rises to the level of treason, but he likes to put out very aggressive and provock ty statements about his enemies. Ultimate penalty is the death sentence. Serious crime, on one hand, the president wants squjeff sessiono go after his, the president s political enemies. On the other hand, he wants sessions to lay off his friends. Just a few days ago as you know, preet, the president criticized the attorney general for not blocking criminal charges against two republican congressmen. What do you make of that suggestion . Well, i think its outrageous. Its one of the most outrageous things that the president has suggested. I was very vocal about it as the day progressed. The Justice Department has not intended to be you know the personal attack dog of the president of the United States. We have neutral laws. Neutral and nonpartisan enforcement of those laws. It doesnt matter if youre a democratic of republican. So he develops a narrative thats very dangerous and suggests to people that we are not going to let the ideal of america is supposed to be, that close tore a bah na that republic where it takes control of the nation and starts to order people who have guns and arms and subpoena power to go after enemies and a couple of other things that the president suggested in that tweet was that somehow, this was a an ol standing obama era investigation of two republican congressmen. I cant speak to duncan hunter. I happen to be the United States at