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Roger Stone's Cooperation; Trump Associates Repeated Lies; Stone Indicted by Mueller; Countdown to Super Bowl LIII. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 28, 2019 - 06:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:32:43] ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Two bombs tore through a church in the southern Philippines killing at least 20 people and injuring at least 81 more. Authorities say the first device went off inside the cathedral and the second one targeted nearby soldiers who rushed to help the victims from the initial blast. ISIS claiming responsibility for this attack.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Emergency crews are searching through mud in a mining town in Brazil for some 300 people missing after a dam collapsed on Friday. The death toll is now at 58. Hope is fading that any more survivors will be found. No one has been found alive so far. The dam collapse buried mine buildings and surrounding neighborhoods with iron ore waste.

CAMEROTA: A man accused of killing five people in Louisiana has been captured in Virginia. Police say this 21-year-old suspect killed his parents, his girlfriend, and his girlfriend's father and brother Saturday in two separate shootings. After a night on the run, he was captured Sunday at a family member's home in Richmond County after allegedly pointing a weapon at deputies.

BERMAN: The groundbreaking superhero film "Black Panther" took top honors at the Screen Actors Guild Awards last night. It won best cast ensemble. Other big winners, Glenn Close as lead actress for her role in "The Wife." She is just sweeping through the awards season. Rami Malek won best actor as Freddie Mercury in "Bohemian Rhapsody." Supporting awards went to Emily Blunt for "A Quiet Place." And Mahershala Ali for "Green Brook."

"Black Panther," man.

CAMEROTA: I need to see it, I guess.

BERMAN: You really do.

CAMEROTA: I really was reserving judgement. But now I really feel I must see it.

BERMAN: It's a super hero movie. I should warn you, it is about super heroes. But how amazing would it be if it did well at the Oscars. I would love that. CAMEROTA: That would be amazing. I mean the cast is just so great. I love watching them when they take the stage.

BERMAN: Talk about theater.

CAMEROTA: Roger Stone speaking out after his arrest. What he's now saying about talking with Robert Mueller's investigators. That's next.

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[06:38:39] CAMEROTA: Roger Stone says he's prepared to fight for his life following his arrest after being indicted on Friday by Robert Mueller. So here is what Stone is saying about talking to the special counsel's investigators.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE: There's no circumstance under which I would testify against the president because I'd have to bear false witness against him. I'd have to make things up.

There is no circumstance whatsoever under which I will bear false witness against the president, nor will I make up lies to ease the pressure on myself.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR, "THIS WEEK": Any chance you'll cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller if he asks?

STONE: You know, that's a question I would have to -- I'd have to determine after my attorneys have some discussion. If there's wrongdoing by other people in the campaign that I know about, which I know of none, but if there is, I would certainly testify honestly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: All right, joining us now is Anne Milgram, she was New Jersey's attorney January, and Shan Wu, he has been a defense attorney and federal prosecutor. Oh, and a special cameo from his audio guy.

Thank you guys both for being here.

Anne, that's hardly a bold statement, I'm not going to lie for the president. I'm not going to bear false witness. I think that he can -- he's trying to have it both ways. He's pretending that he would never speak to investigators or testify against the president --

ANNE MILGRAM, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right.

CAMEROTA: But then he's saying, I just won't lie. There's a way to tell the truth and speak to investigators.

[06:40:04] MILGRAM: Well, there's -- there's two things to note. First of all, he is under indictment for lying. For lying five times. There's also obstructing justice and tampering with -- with a witness. And the second piece is to cooperate, it's not just about talk about other people, you have to be honest about yourself and what you've done. And there is absolutely no evidence that he can do that in this case. So I don't think he's going to get that call to be a cooperator.

BERMAN: You talk about lying. I think that's the most interesting thing. And, you know, we're sort of day three into the Roger Stone indictments here. And "The Washington Post" put all of this in really stark perspective for me where they did a story yesterday and they pointed out just how many people connected to the president have lied about Russia. And many of them have been indicted for and charged with or convicted in some cases. Michael Cohen, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, all convicted, George Papadopoulos --

CAMEROTA: Rick Gates, yes.

BERMAN: Convicted for lying, Rick Gates, convicted for lying about Russia. And now Roger Stone charged with lying about Russia. It's a lot of lies.

MILGRAM: It's a lot of lies.

BERMAN: And it begs the question, which is not answered, by the way, in any of the indictments as far as I can tell, why? Why were they lying? How important is the why here?

MILGRAM: I think we've always been asking this question and we're still asking it. And Stone's indictment gives us a lot more information, but there are still unanswered questions about why the president and why the president's campaign got involved with Russia in the first place and then told all these lies about it.

I can tell you, I mean, we know there's a motivation to lie because everybody -- everybody who's part of this organization has not been truthful. They've lied to Congress. They've lied to federal investigators. The arrogance of that and thinking you get away with it is -- is really stunning. And at this level and the amount we've seen, it's something I haven't seen before in many criminal cases.

CAMEROTA: Shan Wu, where are you on all of this and what Roger Stone's indictment and arrest on Friday means?

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I think one thing that's important for us to remember is, there's a lot of effort to kind of figure out if there's some sort of cryptic message that Mueller's sending with these different kinds of indictments. Can we weave it all together.

If you put all that aside, this is a virtual vivisection (ph) of the administration. I mean the top aides have all been charged and, in many cases convicted, with lying and obstructing and all about the same topic. So certainly the curious is great why they'd want to protect it so much.

But just on its face, this is a devastating vivisection of the administration. For Stone, I think it's one step closer to finding the possibility of the conspiracy. I think he has a lot of bravado right now, but easy to be brave on the courthouse steps, not so tough if you're sitting on the cell.

BERMAN: But there is no charge on conspiracy to defraud the government, Shan. If you look at the charge, there's no charge there. And no charge in terms of Russia against anyone else on that front either. Would you have expected to see it by this point if it was going to come at all?

WU: Not necessarily. If they had it already, certainly I don't think they would be holding it back. But they could be developing that aspect of the investigation.

And I think one thing that is very different about the Stone indictment that we're beginning to see is the eagerness of the administration. Even if they don't get to that cooperation, they seem as though they really want to have the cooperation. And that's very telling in and of itself.

CAMEROTA: Anne, I just want to go back to Friday for a second because you were on with us as all of the drama was unfollowing of Roger Stone's arrest. And we saw the FBI raid show up there in the cover of darkness, predawn. And what we were talking about that morning was to go to that length, it was such a different arrest than we had seen in say the Paul Manafort case. It must have been that investigators believed that he either had a weapon or that he was a flight risk. That's generally how they calculate those things. Because otherwise, as you heard over the weekend, he has said it was overkill. So many of his supporters have said, what were they doing? This is such overkill. Where are you today on this?

MILGRAM: So there's two points to be made here. First of all, on Friday, we didn't actually know that they were executing a search warrant. And it's now been publicly reported that they executed a search warrant at his home in Florida and at his residence in New York. That does happen frequently in the middle of the morning with the FBI showing up at your door. Why? Because they don't want you to destroy evidence and they want to make sure they secure everything. So that's really important.

CAMEROTA: Even with weapons?

MILGRAM: Even with weapons.

That -- and the second point, which I think is really important is, you make a decision, does someone turn themselves in or are you going to essentially show up with a search warrant for their house and for their arrest without notice? Once you've made that second decision, there's a standard operating procedure that was followed.

This is not out of the norm. It feels very strange for us. But remember that officer safety is paramount. They have no idea what they're going to find when they get to a house. So they always behave with the utmost caution with weapons, with bullet proof vests. That's a standard approach for this kind of situation.

The big question I think we had was, why would they do this here? And it's clear, and I think really important that they think that there's additional evidence in Stone's possession that could be helpful in either his case or other cases. BERMAN: And Josh Campbell, who worked for the FBI, said it's actually

the white collar defendants who destroy the evidence the most quickly. That's always where the biggest concern is. So, if that is your concern, they say, and, look, I don't have any experience in this, that's why you go in like that to keep them from destroying anything if they have the time.

[06:45:14] Shan, back to the what's next and who else might need to worry. There is a discussion here if the Roger Stone indictments mean that Robert Mueller is done. Is -- is this the last of the indictments that we will see before the report? And, if so, you know, the universe of other people who could be charged before the Mueller report, there are those that have suggested, well, Donald Trump Junior. Where is the case against him? Should he breathe a sigh of relief this morning?

WU: I don't think he should be breathing a sigh of relief. I think those who have not yet been interviewed by Mueller's team generally still having something to worry about. And I think to Anne's point, the search warrants are really important here because looking at whether the investigation is concluded or not, the real target here was the electronic evidence, I think, and that may yield a great deal, which they may investigate further and which ultimately may cause Stone to change his mind about whether he wants to cooperate.

And notice he said he won't bear false testimony, not that he won't bear any testimony at all. And, of course, if that evidence yields valuable benefit for the investigation, then they'll have something to talk to him about. So I don't think this indicates that we're in the final days of the investigation.

CAMEROTA: All right, Shan Wu, Anne Milgram, thank you very much.

WU: Good to see you.

CAMEROTA: You too.

"Saturday Night Live" tackled Roger Stone's arrest with a special guest.

BERMAN: That's Roger Stone.

CAMEROTA: That's next.

BERMAN: Is that not Roger Stone?

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[06:50:56] BERMAN: Super Bowl week is here. The teams have arrived in Atlanta where it will be played after at least amazing sendoffs for one of the teams.

Andy Scholes is live at the stadium with the "Bleacher Report."

Hey, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. I know which team you're talking about, your Patriots. Both them and

the Rams loading up yesterday, making their way here to Atlanta. Both teams holding fan rallies before getting on that plane and the Patriots a little bit more grand. Check out Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. More than 35,000 fans on hand to see the Patriots off. You know, this is nothing new for the team. This is their -- the Patriots fourth Super Bowl in the past five years, but Bill Belichick said this was the biggest sendoff they've ever had. You know, this will be Tom Brady's record ninth Super Bowl. And he got the fans pumped up before leaving.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, PATRIOTS QUARTERBACK: We're excited. I hope you guys are excited. And as Dez (ph) said, let's let them hear it all the way down in Atlanta. We're still here! We're still here!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Brady apparently is going to be here for a long time. He told ESPN yesterday that there is a zero chance that he retires after Super Bowl LIII. He plans to play much longer. At 41 years old, Brady looking to become the oldest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl.

Now the Rams., meanwhile, didn't have 35k at their rally, but still an impressive crowd. And they held that rally outside the site of their new stadium in Englewood that's set to open in 2020.

Now, last night the teams did arrive here to Atlanta. It's Super Bowl week. Going to get off and running later tonight with Super Bowl opening night. The teams set to meet with the media right next door at State Farm Arena. The Rams are going to go at 7:00 Eastern and the Patriots, they're late night, guys, they're going to go at 9:00 Eastern. So, John, I know that's good and bad news for you. Bad news, you've got to stay up a little late. But good news, you can go to bed listening to the soothing voice of your coach, Bill Belichick.

BERMAN: Yes, I do that always. Thank you for that, Andy.

And I will note, it was nice that tens of fans showed up to see the Rams off.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, you're already talking smack against the Rams.

BERMAN: Tens of fans.

CAMEROTA: You're starting right now.

BERMAN: Tens of thousands for the Patriots, tens of fans for the Rams.

CAMEROTA: Wow. Andy, all right, thank --

SCHOLES: It's fair.

BERMAN: It is fair.

CAMEROTA: Thank you.

"Saturday Night Live" tackled the shutdown and comedy legend Steve Martin showed up to spoof Roger Stone's arrest. Here are your late night laughs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump, on Friday, announced a deal to temporarily reopen the government for three weeks while negotiations continue over border security. Three weeks for basically treating our government like it's a trial period for a Hulu subscription. It's pretty clear that Trump has not figured out who to deal with Nancy Pelosi yet. Usually when a woman is giving him this much trouble, he just gives her 130 grand to shut up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The White House said that the charges against Roger Stone have nothing to do with President Trump. I mean, of course the White House said that because the White House is the president. If I get accused of something, I can't be like, man, I'm innocent, just ask my apartment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for your time, Mr. Stone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no, that wasn't a question, I was stating that to the president. Pardon me!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm sure he appreciates your loyalty and your eccentricity.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, I'm just a normal and straightforward guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: More Steve Martin. More, more, more. It was so great to see him.

CAMEROTA: It was great. I like the newfangled wild and crazy guy.

BERMAN: Fantastic.

[06:54:27] All right, the 2020 race, it is on. There was a big announcement yesterday, a big splash with big crowds. What do the other Democrats thinking about getting in the race make of this kickoff? That's next.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As we embark on this campaign, I will always treat all people with dignity and respect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hillary Clinton is still believing that there maybe, could be a possibility.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The president has a ceiling of about 41 or 42 percent in terms of support. So his only hope is to get the third party to siphon off those votes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will be an independent because I am not in bed with a party.

ROGER STONE: I am human, and I did make some errors, but they're inconsequential.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a human tape recorder, but I'm going to do my best to tell the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The indictment of Stone, it shows that there are e-mails, there are texts.

SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R), FLORIDA: It's a real big mistake to jump to any conclusions until Mr. Mueller's work is done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

BERMAN: Good morning and welcome to your NEW DAY.

A big announcement with a big crowd and big theme. Senator Kamala Harris from California launched her campaign for president from her hometown in Oakland, setting a high bar for other Democrats looking to get in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Who are we as Americans? So, let's answer that question to the world and each other right here and right now. America, we are better than this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:59:48] BERMAN: So if this was a big announcement, another had a decidedly venti feel. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says he is preparing a run as an independent. This caused a major outbreak of heartburn among some Democrats who worry he could split the anti-Trump vote. There's also news on the Hillary Clinton front, which is basically that there still is a Hillary Clinton