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BuzzFeed: Trump Told Cohen to Lie; Shutdown Grudge Match; Top North Korean Envoy In Washington; May Skipping World Economic Forum in Davos; Enes Kanter Denies Turkish Government Claims. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired January 18, 2019 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: -- Christine Romans.
[05:00:00] DAVE BRIGGS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Dave Briggs.
Happy Friday, everyday. January 18th, 5:00 a.m. in the East. Day 28 of the government shutdown.
"The New York Post" capturing the nanny nanny boo boo phase of our federal government pretty well. We'll get to that shutdown in a moment.
We start with the breaking news overnight, revealing the president may have tried to obstruct justice. "BuzzFeed" reporting that President Trump personally directed his long-time attorney and fixer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower Moscow project. Their sources: two law enforcement officials who say the president instructed Cohen to say that negotiations to build the tower ended months before they actually did. The sources say Cohen confirmed to Robert Mueller's team that the president issued the order it lie to Congress.
"BuzzFeed" reports Mueller's office learned about it through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization, internal company e-mails, text messages and other documents.
ROMANS: Here is how Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani responded to the bombshell report, quote, if you believe Cohen, I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.
But a key Democrat House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, he was dead serious, saying the allegation that the president of the United States may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date. We will do what is necessary to find out if it's true.
It's worth noting that during his confirmation hearing this week, Attorney General nomine William Barr said coaching a witness to give false testimony amounts to obstruction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC), CHAIRMAN, SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: So if there was some reason to believe that the president tried to coach somebody not to testify or testify falsely, that could be obstruction of justice?
WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL NOMINEE: Yes, under that -- under an obstruction statute, yes.
GRAHAM: So if there is some evidence that the president tried to conceal evidence, that would be obstruction of justice potentially, right?
BARR: Right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: CNN has not yet corroborated that "BuzzFeed" story.
BRIGGS: And that's not all. Michael Cohen confirms he paid the head of a small technology company to rig two online polls in 2015 at the direction of Donald Trump. The story was first reported by the "Wall Street Journal." Cohen says he paid between $12,000 and $13,000 to John Gauger of Red Finch Solutions to manipulate two polls in Mr. Trump's favor.
The attempt was not successful. Cohen saying he regrets his blind loyalty to Mr. Trump. The president's former fixer still intends to testify before Congress early next month despite expressing concern for his family.
ROMANS: Rudy Giuliani cleaning up his own mess after trying to move the goalposts on possible Trump campaign collusion. Here is what the president's lawyer told a stunned Chris Cuomo on CNN Wednesday night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: I never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "CUOMO PRIME TIME": Yes, you have.
GIULIANI: I have not. I said the president of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: That claim by Giuliani was false. He has many times maintained there was no collusion by the campaign.
Then, yesterday, he told CNN's Dana Bash he never meant to send any new signals about what the Mueller investigation might be finding and he followed that up with this tweet.
My statements on collusion haven't changed. The misinterpretation has changed. The point is, I represent the president, not the campaign. But from both perspectives, there is no involvement in collusion with Russians on the e-mail hack, the only possible crime.
BRIGGS: The Supreme Court meets behind closed doors today to discuss a mystery case related to the special counsel's Russia probe, it involves an unknown foreign corporation fighting a subpoena request from a Washington, D.C.-based grand jury. Lower courts have already ruled that the company must turn over the information requested and has imposed fines for every day it failed to do so.
ROMANS: All right. It's King Kong versus Godzilla, that's how one Trump adviser describes the shutdown battle between President Trump and Nancy Pelosi. The president now denying the speaker a military plane for her trip to the warzone in Afghanistan. The move coming just before her delegation was to leave.
It is apparently in response to Pelosi's letter a day earlier suggesting Mr. Trump postpone the State of the Union Address until the shutdown is resolved. The president in his letter to Pelosi said this: In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I'm sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.
Remember the president also went to a warzone during a shutdown.
The president then twisting the knife in a bit more, said Pelosi's seven-day excursion would be rescheduled when the shutdown is over.
Another top House Democrat Adam Schiff blasting the president's childish behavior.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), CHAIRMAN, HOUSE INTEL COMMITTEE: All too often in the last two years the president has acted like he's in the fifth grade and to have someone who has that kind of character running the country is an enormous problem at every level. We are co-equal branch of government and it may not have been that way over the last two years when he had a Republican Congress willing to roll over anytime he asked, but that is no longer the case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[05:05:11] ROMANS: Republican Senator Lindsey Graham admonishing both sides on Twitter. One sophomoric response does not deserve another. Speaker Pelosi's threat to cancel the State of the Union is very irresponsible and blatantly political. And then he added this, President Trump denying Speaker Pelosi military travel to visit our troops in Afghanistan, our allies in Egypt and NATO is also inappropriate.
Just hours after the president grounded the speaker, a lot of attention this, a government jet touched down in West Palm Beach, Florida, with Melania Trump on board.
BRIGGS: With an address in the House chamber now uncertain, the White House is considering alternative plans for the State of the Union. Some have suggested that the president deliver it from the Senate chamber instead that would still require 60 votes to invite the president to speak, meaning that Republican majority would need some Democrats to be on board with it. White House officials are also said to be considering a rally style
State of the Union which would be coordinated through the Trump re- election campaign.
ROMANS: While the president and speaker are bickering, real people suffering and food pantries are trying to keep up with the demand for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and the families they support. Each day bringing new concerns about basic needs.
Sylvia Young of Washington, D.C., has relied on food stamps for 26 years and fears the shutdown could mean a suspension of her benefits.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SYLVIA YOUNG, DC RESIDENT/SNAP RECIPIENT: It is the unknown that has me concerned. If they aren't going to be available in March, I'll be doing a lot of praying.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Sylvia says she and other food stamp recipients have been advised to use their benefits sparingly for now. She has a message for the president and so does the director of the Department of Human Services for Washington, D.C.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: He was placed in a role of leadership. So why lead your people to starvation, degradation? You know what I mean? So help the people.
LAURA ZELLINGER, DIRECTOR OF DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES: It is quite likely we will see more people looking to the government for assistance during this time. A country as prosperous as ours and a community that's prosperous as ours, people should not have to go hungry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The director of the World Central Kitchen food bank in Washington there says he provided over 4,000 meals on Thursday alone. And it is interesting, Dave, because it's stories like these that seem to be resonating in Washington. You know, we started doing stories about how your tax refund could be delayed and suddenly they brought back 36,000 IRS workers to work on your taxes.
And after we start talking about food stamps, that's going to be paid at least through February. But beyond that, though, we don't know.
BRIGGS: I think the view initially is that is just Washington, D.C. What the country is learning, it is coast to coast. All parts of the country.
All right. The White House will not be sending a delegation to the World Economic Forum in Davos next week according to Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. The president canceled the trip out of consideration for the 800,000 federal workers who are not getting paid because of this government shutdown. Mr. Trump pulled out of the event himself earlier this month.
ROMANS: All right. The Treasury Department is responding to the report that Steven Mnuchin floated the idea of lifting Chinese tariffs. A Treasury spokesperson telling CNN, quote, neither Secretary Mnuchin nor Ambassador Lighthizer had made any recommendations to anyone with respect to tariffs, or other parts of negotiations with China. This is an ongoing process with the Chinese that is nowhere near complete.
But tell that to the markets. Optimism on the trade talks spread to global markets in Asia, markets are higher, that spread to the U.K. where you have all the major averages in Europe higher. And U.S. futures are up as well.
This all coming as China's chief trade negotiator will travel to Washington at the end of the month. The Chinese Commerce Ministry confirming Vice Premier Liu will be in D.C. for two days of talks starting January 30th.
And again the top story this morning in the markets, Dave, is that there is this discussion within the administration, "Wall Street Journal" reporting that Secretary Mnuchin thinking that we should lift some of the tariffs to encourage the Chinese to change structurally the bad behavior of their trade policy. Robert Lighthizer, a Chinese hawk, maybe less inclined to do. That is the drama playing out in the pages of the "Wall Street Journal."
BRIGGS: One thing is clear, this White House needs a win right now and maybe that is what they reach for.
Vice President Mike Pence defending his wife's new job teaching at a Christian school that bans gay and lesbian students as well as parents. Karen Pence announced earlier this week that she was returning part-time to Immanuel Christian School. She previously taught there to 12 years.
The vice president responding to this criticism in an interview with the Catholic news network EWTN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're used to the criticism, but I have to tell you, to see major news organizations attacking Christian education is deeply offensive to us.
[05:10:01] This criticism of Christian education in America should stop.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRIGGS: The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights advocacy group, accused the Pences of showing that their public service extends only to some.
ROMANS: All right. A nuclear envoy from North Korea wakes up in Washington this morning, will it lead to a second Trump/Kim summit?
BRIGGS: And police officers struggle to pull a woman out of a burning truck. Dramatic body camera video ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: North Korea's lead negotiator in nuclear talks with the U.S. is in Washington this morning. He is expected to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and deliver a letter from Kim Jong-un to President Trump. The visit is the latest sign the U.S. and North Korea are finalizing plans for a second Trump/Kim summit.
CNN's Will Ripley is live in Tokyo with more.
And we really want to know, you know, what the substance is here and what kind of progress has been made since the first one beyond the big huge envelope with the personal letter in it which is a bit of theater.
[05:15:06] You know, what is the real progress here?
WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to the Pentagon, not much. They just rolled out a new missile defense strategy calling North Korea an extraordinary threat. U.S. intelligence believes North Korea probably has more warheads now than they at the beginning of the diplomatic process and they certainly have been upgrading their missile bases and whatnot.
Nonetheless, we are expecting cordial meetings in coming hours in Washington between Kim Yong Chul, the North Korean ex-spy chief, he's meeting with the ex-CIA Director Mike Pompeo, now the secretary of state, along with other officials from both sides. They could possibly meet with President Trump. That's the expectation on the North Korean side. And we could see perhaps an announcement about this second summit in Hanoi which is believed to be the front running location or somewhere else.
But we simply don't know how far apart the two sides are on denuclearization, the timeline and how it's going to play out. North Korea wants sanctions relief right away. The U.S. wants North Korea to give up their nukes right away. Both sides clearly aren't getting what they want, which is doctor talks have ground to a halt up to this point.
So, are they willing to compromise? Are there preconditions that they've agreed upon? Perhaps we could learn in the coming hours. Otherwise, Christine, you're going to have another summit, another photo-op and no real substance or progress like we saw back in June.
ROMANS: All right. Will Ripley, where it is evening in Tokyo -- thank you, sir.
BRIGGS: OK. Theresa May skipping the World Economic Forum in Davos next week. Instead, the British prime minister will remain in London to deal with the Brexit crisis. She is expected to hold calls with European leaders after barely surviving a no confidence vote. Britain is expected to leave the European Union on March 29th, but there is no plan in place to actually do it.
For the latest, we bring in CNN's Nic Robertson live from the border of Northern Ireland in London. The border there is the most contentious issue perhaps of Brexit.
Nic, good morning.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, good morning, Dave.
And it is the most contentious issue because the concern about the possibility of a no deal Brexit and a hard border going back up along the border and the concern that that would trigger violence here in Northern Ireland again. You know, if you go back 26 years, a policeman was shot dead on the street here behind me roughly around about that sort of time, I remember standing in this same place watching pitch battles of Molotov cocktails being thrown at police, the police firing the big rubber bullets at protesters.
It was a violent time and that's the concern. If you don't get Brexit right, then you could have a return to those sorts of troubles here. Everybody hopes that doesn't happen. And Theresa May needs the support of Northern Irish politicians to keep her majority in parliament to get any deal through.
The E.U. isn't ready to compromise on the issue of keeping the border open. To avoid that return to violence, Theresa May doesn't want -- Theresa May also he wants to keep the border open. It is complicated. It is difficult.
But at the moment, it is intractable and it's part of what is leading the chaos over Brexit at the moment.
BRIGGS: That's like our shutdown, no off-ramp in sight.
Nic Robertson live for us this morning, thanks.
All right. Some heart pounding body cam video out of Texas shows the moment police officers rushed to pull a woman from a burning pickup truck.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to cut it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got it. I got it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on. Come this way. Come on. Come out the other side.
Get her, get her, get her. Come on. Come on. Cut through. Come out. Come over.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BRIGGS: Wow.
The accident happened overnight as police were chasing a drunk driver. Police say the victim was trying to turn into a parking lot when the suspect slammed into her traveling about 90 miles per hour. Officers pulled the woman from the car before she suffered any burns. She was taken to the hospital for a possible head injury. As for the suspect, he was taken to the hospital for cuts to his face.
ROMANS: All right. The NBA backing one of its stars who says he fears for his life if he ever leaves the country. Andy Scholes has the "Bleacher Report", next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:23:28] BRIGGS: While the New York Knicks who are getting ready to play the Wizards in London, New York center Enes Kanter was here at CNN defending himself against claims by the Turkish government.
Andy Scholes has more in the "Bleacher Report".
Good morning, Andy.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, good morning, Dave.
You know, Enes Kanter did not go with the Knicks to London because he had said he feared Turkish spies would kidnap or even as assassinate him. And for that reason, he said he didn't really feel comfortable traveling outside of the United States right now.
Enes Kanter has been an outspoken critic of Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan. And according to a Turkish state news agency, Turkey has put in an extradition request and a request of an Interpol red notice for the arrest of Kanter, saying they believe he is part of a terror organization. Kanter says he's done nothing wrong and will continue to speak out against human rights violations in his home country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ENES KANTER, NEW YORK KNICKS CENTER: My job is to be voice of all innocent people and, you know, I mean, in the end, I'm a basketball player. I'm not a politician. I'm not a journalist. Some of the words I'm talking right now is the first time I ever used it in my life. But I have to do this for innocent people and for all the journalists that are in jail.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Now, NBA commissioner Adam Silver taking in the Knicks game in London and backed Kanter, saying he supported his decisions to speak on issues important to him. And the Knicks meanwhile finding a creative way to lose to the Wizards. In the final seconds, Allonzo Trier called for goal tending on this lay-up as time is about to expire. That gave Washington the win 101-100.
[05:25:00] All right. Russell Westbrook meanwhile, he had a sidekick for the Thunders game against the Lakers last night. His 1-year-old son Noah coming to work with dad. Noah even joining dad out on the court for his pregame warm-up.
Noah turns two in May. Westbrook and his wife also welcomed twin girls this past November.
As for the game, check this out, the Lakes forward Michael Beasley went to check in, in the first quarter, but he was wearing the wrong shorts. He still had his practice shorts on, so he had to run back to the locker room to change.
This game would go to overtime and Lonzo Ball coming up big, Lakers get the impressive road win without LeBron, beating the Thunder 138- 127.
All right. Finally, after Alshon Jeffrey let the ball go through his hands effectively losing the game for the Eagles last weekend against the Saints. A second grade class in the Philly area, well, they wrote Jeffrey a letter to try to cheer him up. One girl Abigail telling Jeffrey, you know, it's OK to lose, you don't have to win. We couldn't have won the Super Bowl last year without you.
But the class was told they will get to face time with Jeffrey, but then they had technical difficulties. That is when the kids got a big surprise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Oh, my goodness!
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Such a cool moment. Jeffrey surprising all those kids. Props to him for taking time to go see them, because as they say, it is not how you fall, it is how you get back up.
And Jeffrey certainly has handled what happened to him and the Eagles with class.
BRIGGS: Yes, you know, and Twitter trolls and back pages were brutal to Jeffrey, but that kid put his finger on it, they didn't win a Super Bowl without Alshon being a warrior last year. That's a great story.
Thank you, Andy.
SCHOLES: All right.
BRIGGS: All right. Romans, over to you.
ROMANS: Go Abigail and go the whole school.
If somebody knows what sportsmanship is like.
BRIGGS: Yes, thankfully. ROMANS: All right. "BuzzFeed News" says two sources claim President Trump told his personal lawyer to lie. Details on what could be a game changer for Robert Mueller's investigation, next.
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