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Source: Cohen Will Publicly Accuse Trump of Criminal Conduct; House to Vote on Measure Revoking Trump's Emergency Order; Low Expectations for Second North Korea-U.S. Summit; Kraft Facing Two Counts of Soliciting Prostitution; Manafort's Lawyers Argue for Lighter Sentence. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired February 26, 2019 - 06:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Michael Cohen has got some serious baggage. His incentive now is to tell the truth.

[05:59:25] DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: You've got a president trying to deal with a major world issue. To try to distract by bringing in a known liar? It's pretty pathetic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This guy was with the president for more than a decade. We want him to tell us what exactly has been taking place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This charge is a first-degree misdemeanor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are having a day of reckoning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This conversation needs to be a lot further along. We need to be talking about stiffer penalties.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. This is NEW DAY. It is Tuesday, February 26, 6 a.m. here in New York. Another busy morning.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and we're finally over the Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga thing.

CAMEROTA: Are we?

BERMAN: No, you're right.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BERMAN: Not at all. Not even a little.

CAMEROTA: We'll get to that later, but there is new information this morning about what Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer and now convicted felon, will say to a House committee. A source familiar with Cohen's preparations tells CNN that Cohen will

detail Donald Trump's role in some of the crimes that the president's personal attorney pleaded guilty to when Cohen appears in front of the House Oversight Committee.

Cohen is also expected to give behind-the-scenes details raising questions of the president's conduct in business when he was a candidate.

Today, Cohen is set to testify before the Senate Intel Committee behind closed doors and tomorrow has a blockbuster testimony in public.

All this is unfolding as the president lands in Vietnam for his second critical summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

BERMAN: Also happening today, the House is voting on a measure to block President Trump's emergency declaration on the U.S.-Mexico border. This measure is expected to pass. The question is: Will it get enough Republican votes in both chambers to override an eventual presidential veto.

Overnight, one prominent Republican senator, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, announced he will vote against the president's move, because it threatens the separation of powers. Will more Republicans follow?

A lot to cover this morning. Let's start with CNN's M.J. Lee, live in Washington, on the new details in Michael Cohen's testimony.

M.J. LEE, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, guys.

Well, while President Trump is trying to score some kind of victory in a summit with Kim Jong-un, back home, this is not what the president wants to see. We are learning this morning that Michael Cohen is expected to publicly testify for the first time and discuss the president's role in the crimes that Michael Cohen has pleaded guilty to. This is according to a source familiar with Michael Cohen's preparations for this coming week.

We are also told that Michael Cohen is -- is expected to give behind- the-scenes details about Trump's conduct in business when he was a candidate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL COHEN, TRUMP'S FORMER LAWYER: I'm done with the lying. I'm done being loyal to President Trump.

LEE (voice-over): That statement will be put to the test starting today. President Trump's former fixer and personal attorney, Michael Cohen, begins a while wind three days for Congress.

Cohen starts behind closed doors with Senate Intelligence and ends behind closed doors with House Intelligence Thursday. He's expected to reveal what he knows about the president's dealings with Russia, including the Trump Tower meeting between campaign officials and a Russian attorney in June 2016; and a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow, the very project Cohen admitted lying to Congress about.

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: What other light can he shed, now that he's cooperating on issues of obstruction of justice or collusion?

LEE: This week's headliner is Cohen's public hearing Wednesday in front of the House Oversight Committee. While President Trump meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi.

The president's son calling Cohen's hearing a calculated distraction.

TRUMP JR.: To try to, you know, distract or whatever it is by bringing in a convicted felon and known liar, I mean, it's pretty pathetic. But it really shows you how much, you know, really, the Democrats hate Trump.

LEE: House Democrats plan on pressing Cohen for answers that could be damaging for President Trump about Trump's finances, business practices and the hush-money payments to silence women alleging affairs with Donald Trump.

COHEN: He directed me to make the payments. He directed me to become involved in these matters.

LEE: President Trump and the White House repeatedly slamming Cohen, saying he's not telling the truth.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Very simply, Michael Cohen is lying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEE: Now, not only did Michael Cohen plead guilty to lying to Congress, remember, back last summer, he also plead guilty to eight criminal counts. Given those issues, we can safely expect both Republicans and Democrats are going to ask him some pretty tough questions, guys.

BERMAN: All right. M.J. Lee, thank you. A lot to dive in here.

Joining us now, Jennifer Rodgers, a former federal prosecutor.

Jennifer, the new information this morning that Cohen will testify to roles Cohen pleaded guilty to. That includes the illegal hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. And it includes pleading guilty to lying to Congress about payments to Russia. He will testify about the president's role in those crimes.

The significance?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, it's huge. I mean, we already knew that Cohen had implicated him back when he pleaded guilty in the Southern District New York case on the hush-money payments.

But this is basically him filling in the gaps, all right, giving us more details. What exactly did the president say and do to direct him to do that? And the perjury thing is something that we haven't really filled out yet. Who told, who coordinated with Cohen with this false testimony that he gave to Congress. Who told him to do that, if anyone did? So we're really waiting to see how seriously he implicates Trump in these crimes.

BERMAN: And we don't know how Cohen will answer that or if the president played a role in the lying to Congress about Russia. What does it matter if Michael Cohen is asked, did any of this happen? Did the president's role in these crimes, as you were testifying, did any of this happen while he was in office? Would that be different than as a candidate or a private citizen?

RODGERS: Well, not legally. It matters politically, probably, when Congress is trying to consider whether or not to impeach the president. But it doesn't really matter legally.

You know, we already know, per the DOJ guidance, that the sitting president, according to the current guidance, is not to be indicted. So we won't see an indictment of President Trump whenever the conduct occurs.

But legally, it doesn't much matter. It's a crime, whether he was president, whether he wasn't president. The issue is whether or not he could actually be indicted for it.

BERMAN: Behind-the-scenes details Michael Cohen is promising about the president's business activities when he was a candidate and also president. Color, in other words.

Andy McCabe, who was, for a bit, the acting director of the FBI, talked to Chris Cuomo last night about the role that color, this type of color can play. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDY MCCABE, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR OF THE FBI: As an investigator, that illusive element you are constantly trying to uncover is the element of intent. I think Mr. Cohen is in -- has been in a position to have heard conversations and seen actions taken and maybe be able to provide that sort of insider view on what the intent of the folks at the center of this investigation truly was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So the behind-the-scenes details. Is it all about intent, or is there more?

RODGERS: It's all about intent, but it's a little bit more than that. Although this is assuming that this all ends up in some sort of adjudication, right, either in criminal court or in an impeachment trial.

When you are trying to decide who's telling the truth between one person saying Michael Cohen and saying, "Here's what happened, what was said and done."

And another person, say a President Trump, saying, "No, no, he's lying. That didn't happen."

One of the things you look for when you're evaluating that credibility is the details. Does this testimony ring true to you? Is Michael Cohen talking about conversations that they had and actions that the president took that seem in line with what we, the public, have seen him do and heard him say.

So that color is not just technically going to the intent, really also goes to the whole credibility of the testimony that the person kind of alleging this crime is telling you about. And juries listen to that stuff very carefully.

BERMAN: Jennifer Rodgers, thank you so much for helping us understand some of these new details this morning. Appreciate it.

RODGERS: Thanks, John.

CAMEROTA: OK. To the next big story, Democrats moving quickly to try to block President Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border. The House votes today on a measure to revoke the emergency order and send it to the GOP-controlled Senate where a second high-profile Republican is bucking the president.

CNN's Lauren Fox is live on Capitol Hill for us with all of the latest. So tell us about the opposition.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big thing to watch today is how many Republicans actually vote with Democrats to block the president's executive action on the southern border.

And you know, Democrats have been trying to make the case that this isn't about Republican policies or Democratic policies on the border. This is about preserving Congress's power to spend money and decide where taxpayers' dollars go.

All of that is important to watch today. But you know, how this vote goes in the House could determine how Republican senators actually vote.

We already know the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, is very opposed to the president doing this during those spending negotiations last month, has now come around to the idea, but many Senate Republicans still very troubled.

Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, has said that she would vote with Democrats against the president's emergency declaration on the Southern border.

We also know Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, who is up for re-election in 2020, also plans to vote with Democrats. He wrote in a "Washington Post" op-ed, "As a U.S. senator, I cannot justify providing the executive with more ways to bypass Congress. As a conservative, I cannot endorse a precedent that I know future left- wing presidents will exploit to advance radical policies that will erode economic and individual freedoms." Now, the president has already said that he would veto any legislation

that comes to his desk that would block him from moving forward with his emergency declaration.

The big question: Would Republicans vote en masse to override that veto? That obviously something worth watching in upcoming weeks -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: All right, Lauren. Thank you very much for setting all of that up for us.

Let's discuss it with John Avlon, our CNN senior political analyst.

John, great to have you.

Republicans in the House today, they don't need to die on this hill. There are enough votes from Democrats to send this onto the Senate.

JOHN AVLON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Correct.

CAMEROTA: But are House Republicans expressing some opposition?

AVLON: For example, Will Hurd, Texas border congressman, Republican, on our own air, has said he's been opposed to this declaration from the giddy-up.

So there are a lot of Republicans who have been on record as saying this is unwise. It's not only necessarily policy they don't support but it really is a constitutional problem.

They don't need to focus on that, although they probably should if they're going to be consistent. It's the Senate. It's Republicans in the Senate.

And you've got almost 10 in the Senate who have been on record saying this is not consistent with the Constitution. So are they undecided or are they going to vote against?

[06:05] CAMEROTA: Well, I think -- I mean, Lauren is saying that there are two. So we know Susan Collins and now Thom Tillis, but I think Lisa Murkowski also says that she's not going to --

AVLON: She certainly seems to be leaning that way.

CAMEROTA: Yes. And so the question is, can they get enough? There's -- it's very hard to imagine them getting enough to override a veto. But it's still sending a message. If they get some significant amount of Republicans on the record and willing to say no, what message does that send?

AVLON: A very strong message. And look, it's about actually standing up for their own branch of government. It's actually a bit stunning if they wouldn't do that. Take a look at the Republican senators who are undecided: Alexander, Lee, Rand Paul, all saying harshly condemning things about this procedure by the president, because it attacks the entire integrity, not only the Constitution but their branch of government.

So what's stopping them from going to undecided to opposed? Is it simply the power of the president?

CAMEROTA: Yes.

AVLON: Well --

CAMEROTA: That's the answer.

AVLON: Well, but that goes against their own self-interest, political and principled.

CAMEROTA: Well, yes and no. I mean, yes and no. This is where we get to, which is that if they think that going against the president gets them voted out, it doesn't go against their own self-interest, even if it goes against their own principles.

AVLON: Some of them aren't running next term. Like Alexander. And Thom Tillis, to his credit, took a term against the president, an op- ed in "The Washington Post," despite being up for reelection. Some things are bigger than partisan politics, and the presidency can't become a cult that freezes your conscience if you're another branch of government.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, here's what the president tweeted: "I hope our great Republican senators don't get led down the path of weak and ineffective border security. Without strong borders, we don't have a country. And the votes are on board with us. Be strong and smart. Don't fall into the Democrats' trap of open borders and crimes. I mean, that's where he --

AVLON: He was going to attach a picture of Admiral Ackbar but he couldn't figure out --

CAMEROTA: Come on.

AVLON: "It's a trap."

CAMEROTA: That's where he tries to threaten them.

AVLON: Yes.

CAMEROTA: To tell them that they're against the voters, even though the polls don't suggest that.

AVLON: The polls don't suggest that. And again, this is against basic constitutional separation of powers. Any senator who said they're a constitutional conservative can't vote in this in good conscience in which they're really just waving the flag and saying this doesn't matter as much as fealty to the head of the party.

CAMEROTA: John Avlon, thank you very much -- John.

BERMAN: It's a trap. I see you, John Avlon. I see you. All right. Breaking overnight, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un received a red-carpet welcome as he arrived in Vietnam ahead of his second summit with President Trump. The president gets there in just a few hours.

CNN's Michelle Kosinski already live on the ground in Hanoi, in advance of these big meetings, Michelle.

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: John, yes, once President Trump arrives, he'll have a couple of meetings not tonight but tomorrow. He'll have some meetings before the main event actually sitting down again for a round of face-to-face with Kim Jong- un.

That's where these two leaders expect to make progress. So the stakes are high, because we're talking about denuclearization. At least, that is the hope, that something comes out of there.

The pressure is high, but expectations are very iffy here. That's because each side has real incentive to move forward on some of these things.

But each side also has incentive to kind of do the bare minimum until they see the other side make a significant move. So the U.S. would love to see an agreement at the very basic level of what denuclearization even means. Because remember, we're not even there yet.

They'd love to see North Korea sign on to freezing its nuclear and missile programs. They'd love to see a concrete road map for moving forward towards real denuclearization, because there hasn't really been any progress there.

Question, though: What does the U.S. have to give in response? That could be a small move or a big move. It could be something like exchanging diplomats, which we know is under discussion.

It could be a declaration of peace on the Korean Peninsula. It could be something more like easing some sanctions so that South Korea can trade more with North Korea.

So some of the possibilities are very small and incremental and more symbolic. Others could be bigger. We just don't know yet until this meeting happens, John.

BERMAN: All right. Michelle Kosinski in Hanoi. Thank you, Michelle.

Joining us now, retired Navy rear admiral, John Kirby, former State Department and Pentagon spokesperson. Admiral, thank you for being with us. If you listen to the president, he has defined success for this meeting as keeping North Korea from any additional missile tests or nuclear testing. Is that bar very, very low?

REAL ADMIRAL JOHN KIRBY, CNN MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC ANALYST: Yes, it is. It's a heck of a low bar for a second summit here. I mean, first of all, what were the chances that Kim Jong-un was going to do any testing over the last few days. And testing is a bare minimum of their requirements. There's 11 U.S. sanctions which require a lot more than just no testing.

The other thing is, just because he isn't testing doesn't mean he isn't trying, John. I mean, even the intelligence community has been pretty clear that he continues to develop his missile program. He continues to do scientific research, fiscal -- fiscal research. And, of course, he's still -- he's still building and producing missiles. So just because he's not testing doesn't mean he isn't trying.

BERMAN: One of the things that we know the North Koreans want is some kind of declaration of the end of the Korean War. Whether it be stand-alone or a peace treaty, that remains to be seen. From the United States perspective, what's wrong with that idea?

KIRBY: Well, I don't think there's anything wrong intrinsically with an end-of-war declaration. But let's talk about broad terminology here.

You have an armistice that's been in place since 1953. An end-of-war declaration will be the next logical step, then leading, potentially, to a peace treaty, which oh, by the way, has got to get ratified by the Senate.

So I think what they're talking about is end-of-war declaration. That, in and of itself, is not a bad idea, but it has to be carefully worded, John. There needs to be carve-outs that don't affect, for instance, our treaty alliance with the South Koreans or our troop presence on the Korean Peninsula.

Because what you can see is, if it's worded too vaguely, Kim Jong-un could, six months from now, say, "Hey, you guys said the war was over. Why are you still here? You need to pack up and move on."

What does, from a diplomatic perspective, coming into a meeting like this with the president declaring his love affair, essentially, with Kim Jong-un? How does that lay the groundwork for negotiations?

KIRBY: Well, in this case, I actually see there's a little bit of logic to it. I mean, this is what you would call a personal summit, as opposed to maybe a plenary summit like the G-20.

And a personal summit really does hinge a lot on the rapport between the two leaders. And I think what Trump is doing to Kim is what Kim is also doing back to Trump, which is playing to their ego, being very complementary.

It does, at least, set the stage for a warm beginning to the meeting, but as you know, John, that doesn't necessarily mean results and outcomes. That's going to be the real hard work of the diplomatic teams and the negotiating teams to actually get some sort of tangible result from this.

BERMAN: Very quickly, what do you think North Korea would be willing to give up in these discussions?

KIRBY: That is the big question, John. I don't know. I think they might agree to a continued freeze of -- of testing and production.

But again, the I.C., the intelligence community says that they've got about 90 to 95 percent of their capability right now to hit us with an ICBM, tipped with a nuclear weapon. So that's not much giving up.

I think it would be very valuable if they could give up, for instance, inspections of the Yongbyon facility, something that gets to their present and future capabilities and not just trading away past capabilities.

BERMAN: A concrete goal. Something for the United States to aspire to in these discussions. Admiral Kirby, always a pleasure to have you on with us. Thanks so much.

CAMEROTA: OK, John. New details about Robert Kraft's alleged solicitation of sex in Florida. The New England Patriots owner allegedly visited this facility and paid for a sex act on the morning of his team's AFC title game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kaylee Hartung is live from Jupiter with all of the latest developments, and they are salacious -- Kaylee.

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are, Alisyn. And this all began to unravel during a routine health inspection.

There were clues that the women working inside this day spa in a strip mall were also living there. Police obtained a warrant. They installed surveillance cameras, and they say, over the course of a couple of days, they captured 25 men committing illegal acts, including the billionaire owner of the Patriots, Robert Kraft.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HARTUNG (voice-over): Just hours before New England took the field for the AFC title game, police say Patriots owner Robert Kraft was soliciting a prostitute at this Florida spa. Kraft is now charged with two first-degree misdemeanors. He categorically denies any illegal activity. Each charge is punishable by up to one year in jail, 100 hours of community service, a $5,000 fine, and a program on the effects of prostitution and human trafficking.

DAVE ARONBERG, STATE ATTORNEY FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY: It's about time the country has a real conversation about human trafficking, which is modern-day slavery in our midst. This is not about lonely old men or victimless crimes.

HARTUNG: On January 18, Kraft left Bedford, Massachusetts, for Palm Beach, Florida. The next day, at 4:45 p.m., Kraft entered the Orchids of Asia day spa, where police say he paid for a sexual act that was recorded on their surveillance cameras.

The following morning, at 10:59 a.m. the day of the Patriots' AFC title game, police say Kraft returned to the spa and paid for another sexual act that was, again, caught on camera.

A few hours later, he departed Palm Beach for Kansas City, where he watched his New England Patriots defeat the Chiefs to head to the Super Bowl.

Authorities first suspected a prostitution ring after a Health Department employee alerted police, believing women were living in the spas.

The months-long investigation has already uncovered a multi-million- dollar international scheme that stretches from China to New York City and Palm Beach, Florida. Police suspect hundreds could be arrested.

SHERIFF WILLIAM SNYDER, MARTIN COUNTY: I think it's very safe to say without any hyperbole, that this is the tip of the of the tip of iceberg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARTUNG: The summons Robert Kraft received yesterday isn't much different than a speeding ticket with the court date attached.

[06:20:08] A state attorney in Palm Beach County tells us, for first- time offenders like Kraft in this situation, it's very unlikely that he'll see jail time. Alisyn, don't expect to see Robert Kraft in handcuffs or even appear in court. His attorney can handle that.

CAMEROTA: OK, Kaylee. Thank you very much for telling us all those details.

Joining us now is Laura Coates, a former federal prosecutor. Laura, do you agree with everything that you've heard that, even though this carries up to a one-year prison sentence, Robert Kraft is not going to jail?

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I do agree that it's really unlikely that he will. And the reason for that is because he's not being yet attached to the human trafficking element of that.

Now, if that were the case, if this somehow were to evolve into him either knowing that there was human trafficking inside or that he was complicit in some way or that he was part of a larger operation, this sort of crime likely will be a probationary or one that involves the community service element of it.

And of course, as the press conference noted, the whole goal is to attach it to an educational element. So jail or not, he'll likely sit through a course about the effects in prostitution and its relationship to the trafficking element in this country.

CAMEROTA: And there's a mandatory 100 hours of community service. Are we going to see Robert Kraft along the edge of the highway picking up garbage?

COATES: I don't know we'll have that. But we will have some community service.

And then, of course, remember, he's a part of the NFL has a good conduct policy. And they've already been very clear that the owners and people like himself are going to be held to probably an even higher standard. So you can bet there will be a tangential or parallel relationship between the NFL's conduct and the community service element of it. Whether it will be together or not is unknown. But he will have to have some element of punitive damage -- punitive punishment in some way. He won't just walk away and say, "Oh, mea culpa. I had no idea."

CAMEROTA: But Laura, I mean, from where you sit, isn't it hard to imagine that he would ever be attached to any human trafficking charges? I mean, it sounds like he flew in and flew out.

I mean, some of the details in this: he arrived at the day spa at 10:59 on January 20. He left at 11:13. He -- it didn't sound like he lingered.

By the way, one other colorful bit of detail that I think is appropriate for our breakfast crowd. He arrived in a chauffeur-driven white Bentley to this, you know, seedy day spa, stayed for 14 minutes and drove off in his white Bentley.

COATES: I mean, he didn't want to be noticed. When you drive up in a white Bentley, Alisyn, when you want to be under the radar, you're really inconspicuous, the entire thing.

Well, here's the thing. You're right. The idea that perhaps it's just somebody who arrived for services and left. But the whole problem with human trafficking and these sorts of rings, which is why it's a months-long operation, why the video camera did pick up certain elements of it, is because sometimes there are cases where it's very difficult to not see that the women are being oppressed, that they are somehow in sexual servitude. This is not an ordinary transaction in the prostitution sense.

And so, if there was some indication that perhaps this was something more than a, I hate to say, a routine prostitution transaction, then there could conceivably be an opportunity for him to be prosecuted.

But as we know now, the facts as we know them now, no. This appears to be a transaction. It happened once with solicitation and then once with receiving actual services from one or more women. And then him leaving to go to -- you know, the AFC game in that white Bentley.

CAMEROTA: Laura Coates, really interesting. Thank you very much -- John.

BERMAN: All right. New details about Michael Cohen's testimony leaking out this morning. This as overnight, Paul Manafort's attorneys make a plea for leniency. Is this really just a public call for a pardon?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:02] BERMAN: Overnight, Paul Manafort's attorneys submitted their argument for why President Trump's former campaign chair should receive a lighter sentence. Joining us now to discuss, Joe Lockhart, former White House press

secretary under President Clinton; David Gregory, CNN political analyst; and Laura Coates back with us, former federal prosecutor.

Joe, I want to read to you the part about Russia. Because the lawyers for Paul Manafort go out of their way to say he's not being charged with Russian collusion here. Importantly, they say, "The defendant has not been charged with any crimes related to the primary focus of the special counsel's investigation, i.e. any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump, otherwise referred to as Russian collusion by the national media."

Why would a judge care about what crimes he is convicted of? It seems to me that that's a statement for the public and one person in the public in particular, President Trump.

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. The judge, I don't think, cares. And Laura can jump in on, you know, the legality of it.

This was written, basically, it was like cobbled together, all the president's tweets. It was written for the president and president alone to say, "You're being persecuted here, Donald Trump. I'm being persecuted for the same thing. Help me out here, pardon me." That's what it's all about.

DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: But I would argue, I think it is relevant. I mean, you know, they're making a pitch that obviously has a wider audience.

But it is specifically for this judge. Whether she might agree that there's some overreach by the government, that there's some harshness in what they're bringing. I don't know what her reputation is as a sentencer. But that is relevant, and that is something that defense attorneys will think about.

And I think it has dual roles here. You can make a case to say, "Look, this is a little harshly charged here." This is, you know, the government is trying to make him a poster child for this Russian collusion investigation, which doesn't seem fair.

But the other side of it is that, you know, prosecutors tend to find crimes -- or prosecute crimes where they find them. And that's the reality, especially when they want a conviction.

CAMEROTA: Laura, one of the other things that his lawyers, Manafort's lawyers are saying, is that he is being depicted as, like an arch villain.

END