Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, Breaking News and international stories. That he had been he had testified Behind Closed Doors with the House Intelligence Committee and apparently forgot about that meeting. I think it strains credulity to believe he forgot about that meeting. So what might bob muellers investigators be doing now . Because miss davis is close to him personally and professionally, theres been some reporting that, for example, she would keep his schedule. Of course, the investigators are going to want to deal with her to see what kind of meetings roger stone was taking. Even more importantly, to see if before his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee he had been speaking with her about the meetings he had taken. When you uncover evidence like that, it significantly undercuts a claim that i just forgot about meeting with that particular russian. So there are all sorts of reasons for muellers Investigative Team to want to
get every bid of rel vaevant, reliable information out of miss davis that they can. Its significant. And tell me if im wrong, but it seems mueller and his team are focusing in on roger stone, this part of the investigation. They havent referred it to another u. S. District court. This is part of the russia probe. It sure seems like it. Bob mueller has taken his jurisdictional mandate very seriously. Because weve seen him refer cases out to the Eastern District of virginia, where Paul Manafort is on trial as we speak. He has sent several investigations Michael Cohen in new york. Several investigations. Michael cohen. Recently we saw him refer some individuals for potentially unlawful lobbying activities, again, up to new york. He really is keeping within the lines that have been drawn for him by Deputy Attorney general rod rosenstein. I know, sarah, youre getting reaction. I assume youve consulted or
tried to get reaction from the principals involved. What are they saying, if anything . Thats right. A lawyer who represents Kristin Davis declined to comment for this. Roger stone and his attorney declined to comment. I can tell you the sentiment in the orbit of roger stones friends and allies is they really do sort of now believe the president s line on this, that this is a witch hunt. Theyre saying, you know, why are people why is muellers Team Calling Witnesses asking if roger stone has a love child . They pretty much all believe its only a matter of time until roger stone gets indicted. They believe there will be something that has to do with potential collusion between roger stone and russians. Remember, he talked for a while openly about how he had been in contact with Julian Assange during all this information coming out about Hillary Clinton during the campaign. He later walked that back. They sort of think there will be a Top Line Allegation about him having something to do perhaps with hacking, perhaps with russian collusion. It could be followed by charges
that have something to do with his finances. They maintain, and roger stone did not comment for this piece, but hes previously maintained hes innocent, that he had nothing to do with russian collusion, that he didnt do anything wrong. He says if the Special Counsel does bring charges against him, those are all going to be trumped up ways to just get at him over his finances. Very good reporting with m. J. Lee, sarah. Thank you very much. Glen, thank you to you as well. From democracy in the cross hairs to a russian hoax, President Trump dismisses. The entire Russia Investigation only hours after his Top National Security team warned of a dire threat that russia poses to the u. S. Elections. One after the other, the top members of his administration warned of russias ongoing effort to interfere in the upcoming midterm elections here in the United States in november and undermine u. S. Democracy. A white house official tells cnn the president instructed his team to present this show of force, but guess what, he didnt appear with them at that event. And at a rally only a few hours
later, he actually said this. In helsinki, i had a great meeting with putin. We discussed everything. I had a great meeting. [ cheers and applause ] we got along really well. By the way, thats a good thing, not a bad thing. Thats a really good thing. Now, were being hindered by the russian hoax. Its a hoax, okay . Clearly in contrast to what his Top National Security advisers said only a few hours earlier. Lets go to our senior White House Correspondent jeff zeleny. Whats behind the disconnect between the president who says its all a hoax and his own administration when it comes to russia . They say this is an enormous threat facing the United States. Reporter wolf, clearly the president not speaking with the same voice of his National Security officials. That was the Big Question Hanging over the rally last evening in pennsylvania. Of course, coming just hours after his full National Securityapparatus speaking there from the white house in a way we have not seen before. To have the director of the fbi, the intelligence director, the Homeland Security secretary, and others speaking about this, it seemed that the white house was turning a page on Russian Election meddling. Then the president , of course, with the biggest megaphone of all not talking about that, not amplifying that message. The white house says they are on the same page. They say privately the president is giving this directive for his officials to say on this, and he is taking it seriously. Wolf, publicly hes doing anything but. By calling it a hoax yet again, it is certainly sending a message that the u. S. Is not taking this seriously. Theres no other way to draw attention to something than to have the president talk about it in public. And so far, the president has been unwilling to do that. When you talk to supporters of his and longtime friends of his and ask them why he cant do this, they say this is the one thing the Russian Election meddling that simply getting to him. He does not want to be seen as
illegitimate. He does not want to be seen that his 2016 victory was anything but that, a victory. But wolf, it does make you wonder why he cant just move on and talk about this forcefully. Now, the question is, will the government be focused on this in the three months or so before the midterm elections . They say they are. But again, without the president talking about it, it makes you wonder if its a top priority, wolf. Nothing, i take it, Objen Th President s schedule today. Hes out in new jersey at his golf club. Reporter no, there is nothing on his public schedule, wolf. We know he was looking at those strong economic numbers coming in this morning. The Unemployment Rate, of course, going down to 3. 9 . Some of us thought we would hear from him this morning, but we did not hear from him. Hes not planning to speak at all today. Hell be going to ohio tomorrow to campaign for a house race. Hes scheduled to be here on a Working Vacation for the next week and a half or so until august 13th. You can be sure well likely be hearing from him in some fashion at some point, wolf. Even if its only on twitter. Im sure we will. Jeff, thank you very much. Jeff zeleny reporting. Joining us now, mike rogers, cnns National Security commentator, former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Mike, thanks very much for coming in. Pretty impressive show of force yesterday by the president s Top National Security team, all of them showing up speaking forcefully against what russia did during the 2016 elections, when theyre attempting to do in the upcoming midterms. Yet, the president says only a few hours later its a russia hoax. Yeah, pretty powerful display from the Intelligence Community, including the fbi and the Law Enforcement side and what theyre doing. Its a little confounding. I just i passionate believe the president cannot separate this notion of which and i think he believes this, there was no collusion on his behalf, he doesnt understand this investigation, and what the russians actually did to try to influence the election and pit americans against american, and
theyre ramping it up. I think he believes if he admits that that, in fact, is the case, his presidency might not be a legitimate win. I think you have to separate both of those issues. I just dont think he can get there. The good news for americans is all of these folks came out. They didnt just talk to the russians. They didnt talk to the american public. They also talked to the work force of the Intelligence Community saying were committed to, this were going to unleash some of the assets that we have. And with all due respect to the Top National Security team, including dan coats, the director of national intelligence, they were all there, the fbi director. Its one thing for the russians and putin to hear them, but its another thing for them to hear from the president of the United States. Clearly. And the one issue that you have to ask so if youre going to disrupt disrupt russian activity, you need some offensive capabilities. Those are considered covert action, really sensitive. Lots of thought goes into making sure you hit the right target,
dot right thing. It needs a president ial signoff. You have to of some offensive capability. That does need to have a policy wrapped around it and authorization from the president. We certainly didnt hear from the president himself. He could have showed up at that event together with his National Security team. He certainly could have discussed it later in the evening when he had that big rally in california. He was silent on that except for calling it a hoax. Usually calls it a witch hunt. I want you to listen to dan coats, the director of national intelligence. He spoke about the helsinki summit between the president and russian president putin. Then he uttered these words. Im not in a position to either understand fully or talk about what happened at helsinki. Ill throw it over to the National Security director here to address that question. It was pretty shocking to hear the director of national intelligence, the top Intelligence Officer in the United States, say that hes not in a position to understand fully what happened in helsinki. That may have been the fastest handoff of a question ive ever seen by somebody in a major press conference. Wouldnt he be briefed spe k specifically . You would hope so. And when the National Security adviser said, no, no, no, putin told us what happened in the meeting. Remember when he came out and said, putin told us that was the question the president asked. You never empower an adversary with the narrative. Now we have to get any c confirmation of what happened in that hearing not just from the president but putin and his Information Crew are using this to their full advantage. Very quickly, because ive heard from some u. S. Cyber experts, Counterintelligence Experts say the only way the russians are fully going to appreciate what theyve been doing is if the u. S. Does
something similar to them. Do some hacking, Go On The Cyber Offensive against putin and his top oligarchs, specifically reveal some of their secret emails, expose some of the Money Laundering going on, and send that direct message to them. Maybe that will have an impact. That is one aspect. That piece has been talked about for years. Do you remember the Panama Papers and all of those disclosures . That Start Tord Ged to get a li putins circle, the money they were stealing. But it has to be more than that. It cant be just were going to embarrass you a little bit. From has to be disruption. So we have the capability, the u. S. Government, the National Security agency, to disrupt certain cyber activities. Its hard. You have to be accurate. Its not an easy thing to do. But we can do it. Remember, thats the part that the president has to sign off on. If youre going to another country to disrupt some activity like that, its under something called title 50. You need lots of authorizations. The president normally is in that chain. He could delegate, but we dont know that piece. Im going to guess we havent gotten an idea yet on what those offensive cyber actions would look like. If you want to disrupt the russians, you absolutely have to have some offensive capable. You have to have the authorization to do it. No doubt the u. S. Has that capability if the president of the United States were to say remember when mike rodgers said the president hadnt told me to do anything . That was what was so concerning. Hes the guy that needed to hear it from the president. The former director of the National Security agency. Not this mike rogers. Stand by. Theres more news were following. In the trial of the president s former campaign chairman, the people who handled his money taking the stand. Youre going to hear what they said when they were asked about what they knew. Plus, as the u. S. Unemployment rate falls, china now retaliating in the president s trade war. How far will this go . And donald trump jr. Compares the Democratic Party platform
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