Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, Breaking News and international stories. Somebody, in other words make up stories if you dont know, they just make up lies. Alan dershowitz stayed composed. Ive seen it many times. They go from ten years to a national hero. They have a statue erected in their honor. Its not a fair thing. But thats why he did it. He made a very good deal. All right. Lets immediately go to our White House CorrespondentKaitlan Collins at the white house. This is a big deal that a longtime friend and associate of the president of the United States, david pecker of American Media, cooperating with federal prosecutors in exchange for immunity. What are you hearing of these latest attacks and the revelations about david peckers role in helping Michael Cohen facilitate these Hush Money Payments . Reporter yeah, wolf, youre right. This is a big deal, and its not good news for President Trump. The Wall Street Journal reporting that david pecker and an editor at the national
enquirer have been granted immunity in this case. Before, we had previously reported that david pecker had been subpoenaed in all this. We knew that he told prosecutors in the Southern District of new york, which is investigating Michael Cohen and these hush payments made to these women alleging they had affairs with the president , that he told them that President Trump was aware of those payments at the time. That would contradict what the white house and what President Trump have tried to say for several months now, including prurp President Trump on camera yesterday saying he didnt know about the payments until later on, even though theres an Audio Recording of him and Michael Cohen discussing how to make one of the payments. This is big news because david pecker is a longtime ally of the president. Thats why he had a role in helping to cover up these affairs with these women. They were trying to quiet them so they would not hurt the president s chances in the election. Now, what this means, theyre getting immunity here, wolf, is
david pecker must have valuable testimony, prosecutors believe, and thats why theyre granting him immunity in Something Like this. Clearly a very big deal, likely something that is not going to please the president here, wolf, after you just heard him say that he believes that flipping, which revealing information you have so you could have a lesser sentence about someone, should be illegal. That is what the president said during an interview yesterday. Now with this news, it certainly is not going to be welcome here in the west wing. Another source of grave, grave concern, i am sure, for the president of the United States. David pecker granted immunity in exchange for his cooperation with the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york, as well as the Special Counsel presumably. Kaitlan, stand by. I know youll be getting more reaction. I want to get some analysis. Let me read to you what Michael Cohen said before the federal judge in new york when he pleaded guilty to all those charges, specifically what he said about American Media and david pecker and the role of the president of the United States in facilitating that 150,000 payment to karen mcdougal, the former playboy playmate. This is what Michael Cohen said. Ill read it very carefully. As to count number seven, on or about the summer of 2016 in coordination with and at the direction of a candidate for federal office, i and the ceo of a Media Company at the request of the candidate worked together to keep an individual with information that would be harmful to the candidate and to the campaign from publicly disclosing this information. After a number of discussions, we eventually accomplished the goal by the Media Company entering into a contract with the individual under which she
received compensation of 150,000. I participated in this conduct which on my part took place in manhattan for the principal purpose of influencing the election. Now weve learned since that statement from Michael Cohen that david pecker received immunity in exchange for his cooperation. This is truly stunning. Reading from that, you can make it very obvious that david pecker probably made a beeline to the u. S. Attorneys office in new york to say, excuse me, i know ive been implicated as well. Also, you probably prepared for this long before. When the Audiotape Recording came out from lanny davis talking about a conversation recorded secretly by Michael Cohen and the president of the United States, he talked about david pecker and resolving all of the issues act information that might come out before the campaign. Im sure at that point he was on notice he would be implicated at some point in the future. You see it Happening In Black And White in front of a court of law. Now immunity means hell be able
publication, and a longtime friend and associate of the president , thats a huge deal. It is. What this week has done is move this firmly into the realm of the legal. It has been for months this balance between whats happening on the legal front, whats happening on the political front. The problem for the president is squarely in the legal realm, which is what matters. That could have political implications. Youre still seeing republicans in congress trying to figure out, you know, what to do, how to respond, and whether to do any of it publicly. But this absolutely changes the dynamics of what were talking about because there are now so far it doesnt matter what the president has said publicly. Whats always mattered more is what people would say under oath. Remember, the context of this, we were talking, have been talking all this time about whether the president would sit for questions with mr. Muellers team. I think in light of what mr. Cohen did and now this report about david pecker, we understand how perilous that would be. And you mentioned it,
richard. Catch and kill. You catch someone saying something bad about donald trump, you offer money, you kill the story, you never publish it. Thats what the nature of catch and kill. Everybody stand by. Theres more Breaking News. Lau laura jar rhe Laura Jarrett at the Justice Department with another story. A rare statement from the Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, today, issuing a brush back to the president after that fiery interview he game on fox. I want to read the full statement to you, wolf. This is truly extraordinary. We rarely hear from sessions, especially pushing back on the president. He says in part, here, i took control of the Justice Department the day i was sworn in, which is why we have had unprecedented success at Effectuating The President s agenda, one that protects the safety and security and rights of the American People, reduces crime and enforces our immigration laws, promotes economic growth, and advances liberty. He goes on, wolf, to say, while i am Attorney General, the
actions of the Justice Department will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. I demand the highest standards, and where they are not met, i take action. However, no nation has a more talented and more dedicated group of Law Enforcement investigators and prosecutors than the United States. Finally, he says, i am proud to serve with them, proud of the work we have done in successfully advancing the rule of law. So clearly a push back to the president here. Its measured, but this is very rare, wolf. He never does this. The last time he issued this type of statement was back in february when the president questioned his integrity again, surrounding the fisa situation with carter page. But otherwise, he rarely does this, wolf. We expect him at the white house later today for an entirely different subject on criminal justice reform. It really is significant because the president of the United States in this most
recent interview with fox news, he really went after sessions. Im going to play the clip. I dont know if we have it cued up yet. Im going to play the clip of what the president said about Jeff Sessions, the man he named to be the Attorney General of the United States, a man who has served as the top Law Enforcement officer in the United States and the president once again humiliated him publicly, rebuked him publicly, said the only reason he has this job is because he was loyal to him during the president ial campaign. If we have that clip, let me play it right now. He took the job, and then he said, im going to recuse myself. I said, what kind of a man is this . The only reason i gave him the job, because i felt loyalty. He was an original supporter. This isnt the first time, but it seems to be the most direct moment that the president has so publicly gone after the man he named to be the Attorney General. Its true, wolf. Its interesting. I think some of us have become almost numb to the daily tweets. Just recently he said the Attorney General was missing in action. He sort of does thee daily tweet storms on the Attorney General on a variety of other officials, including bruce ohr, a career official here at the Justice Department. Hes talked about withdrawing that mans security clearance. So the president has lashed out frequently on twitter, but its another thing to go on fox, to make those type of statements about your own Attorney General. Dle clearly today Jeff Sessions had enough. Well see what the reaction is. Well see what the interaction is between the two of them at the white house later today. If we can catch that on camera. Its also interesting, you know, leaders on capitol hill today were questioned at length about whether the president could fire Jeff Sessions before the midterms. They were unanimous in saying that would be a political disaster. Yes, they were. All the republicans we caught up with, the senators and members
of the house of representatives, they were very supportive of Jeff Sessions. Were going to take a quick break. Lots of Breaking News were following right now. Much more right after this. Hydrl breaks through the competition olay eyes with b3 complex hydrates better than 100, 200 even 400 eye creams. Thats something to see. Olay at t provides edgetoedge intelligence, covering virtually every part of your business. So this wont happen. Because youve made sure this sensor and this machine are integrated. Atta, boy. Yes, some people assign genders to machines. With edgetoedge intelligence, youll know your customers love this color, dont love this one. Never getting grape again. Saw significant symptom relief and many achieved remission in as little as 4 weeks. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. My ci can worry about it,ine. Or do something about it. Garlique® helps maintain healthy cholesterol naturally. And its odor free. And pharmacist recommended. Garlique. ® were back with Breaking News. The Attorney General of the United States, Jeff Sessions, hitting back at the president of the United States saying the department of justice wont be improperly influenced. He says the actions of the department of justice will not be improperly influenced by political considerations. This after the president in an interview that aired on fox news earlier this morning went after the Attorney General publicly, rebuking him, humiliating him, basically saying the only reason
he got his job as the top Law Enforcement officer of the United States was because he was loyal to donald trump during the president ial campaign. Lets get reaction right now from republican congressman Ryan Costello of pennsylvania. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us. So give me your reaction to this exchange. A pretty extraordinary exchange. I dont think ive ever heard a president publicly rebuke an Attorney General along these lines and now the Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions saying to the president , you know what, im not going anywhere. We got a job to do. I agree. I havent heard it either. I would agree with your reporter who coined it rare and measured. I think its more than anything else Jeff Sessions whos probably had enough. If you listen to conservative radio or certain news channel, every single day Jeff Sessions is just getting lit up. I think what the president did in sort of describing what he wants his Attorney General to do also makes it a little more difficult for whomever the next Attorney General is who has to go through senate confirmation. Loyalty is not the test for an Attorney General. Fidelity to the law, independence, and following the law and protecting individual rights and upholding the constitution is the standard. So the president s description of something other than that, i think, is a little troubling. And then my final point there is the laws of political gravity dont always apply to a president in realtime. This president has actually demonstrated that sometimes they dont apply at all. Were in a situation now where i think youre going to speak about the a. M. I. Issue, where the color ration of this is looking different now. It certainly is. If the president so much dislikes, distrusts, cant stand Jeff Sessions, why doesnt he just fire him . Well, it would reflect poorly upon him, number one, and while
it would be problematic, i think, for republicans to have to answer those questions, it would also enable republicans the ability to assert some independence. I think Middle America is looking for republicans to stand up and call balls and strikes fairly here. So while i think it would be a problem for the president , i dont subscribe to what some are suggesting that somehow this would be a problem for republicans. I do think that confirming someone else becomes extremely difficult. This obviously then clouds or makes it all the more challenging to get judge kavanaugh through confirmation in the coming weeks. Yeah, he doesnt want to do anything thats going to undermine that Confirmation Process. As you correctly point out, there are midterm elections, critically important midterm leck elections, coming up in november. Ive heard from some people close with Jeff Sessions. He really feels hes got a job to do for the American People as being the Attorney General. Hes afraid if he were to
resign, for example, the next person who comes in might not necessarily do the job that hes trying to do. I assume youve heard similar things why hes not submitting his resignation. Well, added to that, wolf, i serve as a member of congress. There are some time where i bite my lip on things i disagree with. I think those that serve in government feel that they have a skill set and experience that theyre best suited to do that job. Otherwise, why would they be doing it . I think in the case of the Attorney General, who is a