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Don Lemon Tonight

Michael Cohen Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress to Cover Up for President Trump and Limit the Russia Investigation; President Trump Business Interests In Russia; Trump Abruptly Cancels Putin Meeting At G20; Senator Tim Scott Says He Will Oppose Controversial Judicial Pick; "Miami Herald:" Labor Secretary Accused of Giving Wealthy Alleged Sexual Predator 'A Sweetheart Deal.' Aired 11-12a ET

Aired November 29, 2018 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. President Trump touching down in Buenos Aires tonight for meetings with world leaders at the G20. But one of those meetings has already been scrapped. Just a short time after saying it was a good time to meet with the Vladimir Putin, Trump canceled.

The official reason was the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine. But the timing has to make you wonder, coming right after Michael Cohen, Trump's former fixer pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the 2016 Presidential campaign. And it comes as we're learning tonight that one idea for marketing Trump Tower Moscow was to offer Vladimir Putin, the $50 million penthouse.

That is according to Felix Sater, a Russian born one-time business associate of Trump's who worked on the project with Michael Cohen. Confronted with news of Cohen's plea, the President dismissed him as weak, claimed it didn't matter, because he could do whatever he wanted during the campaign, but remember, all this means is that then candidate Trump was trying to do business with Russia in the middle of a campaign that Russia interfered in to help elect him.

So let's discuss now. We have lots to discuss. John Dean is here, Jack Quinn. Good evening. Today's developments, gentlemen, it's really -- just when you think it can't get any more twisted, it gets, I know this is not a word, twisteder (ph), it gets more twisted. So, John, I'm going to start with you. Back in August, sources close to Michael Cohen told me that they saw parallels to your story. Right?

JOHN DEAN, FORMER NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Yes.

LEMON: After what happened today, do you think there are parallels?

DEAN: Well, there's some, he is an obvious insider. He didn't try to end it inside as I happened to do, but when it came time to stand up, I think he did. When I look at his cooperation agreement, the first time he walked in with none at all, he went to -- spent 70 some hours with the Special Counsel with no agreement. Today he has an agreement as a result of the information he is

provided. So that -- they don't give those out easily at the Special Counsel's office. So he is provided some good information, Don.

LEMON: Yes. He says he doesn't have an official what he has is a promise of a letter I think. That is what the reporting is, a promise of a letter to the judge and maybe that will help, but there's no official, what do they call a 5k1? Right.

Is that right? Yes.

DEAN: The sentencing guidelines.

LEMON: Let me lay this. This is you back in 1973. And this is from your testimony to the Senate Watergate committee. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: I began by telling the President that there was a cancer growing on the presidency and if the cancer was not remove the President himself would be killed by it. I also told him that it was important that this cancer be removed immediately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: You tried to warn Nixon about Watergate. Clearly the Russia scandal was turned into a cancer on Trump's presidency.

DEAN: It certainly has. And I think today's plea may have been a real shocker for the President, because his motive as you discussed in the last hour has now shown bare. It is pure finance is behind this effort to make money. He didn't think he was going to win the presidency. He thought he would be a little bit more famous, have a little bit more power for that reason. And he could crack a hell of a deal in Moscow. So it didn't work out that way.

LEMON: So listen, the President is saying that Michael Cohen is lying. Rudy Giuliani has weighed in, Jack. You know, it's Cohen's word against the President's, Special Counsel though is saying they believe what Michael Cohen is telling them. That is significant.

JACK QUINN, FORMER CLINTON WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: It's very significant. And I would bring to your attention as I'm sure you know, Robert Mueller put his name on this pleading. This was not signed by one of his deputies. He put his name on this. And he indicated in that pleading that he believes that Michael Cohen has been truthful and helpful to the investigation. That was a significant signal on the part of the Special Counsel.

[23:05:05] LEMON: Yes.

QUINN: And yes. I mean, -- today, I think the important thing here is that few people I think can doubt now on the basis of what Michael Cohen has said that Donald Trump was untruthful about his relationship with Russia and his dealings with Russia throughout the campaign. During a period of time when he was engaged in weakening the Republican platform on American policy toward Russia, when he was doing business deals, that he consistently denied he was doing, and you know, all of that concealment betrays a guilty mind. One has to wonder why.

LEMON: So -- yes, but what is it -- you mentioned that Robert Mueller signed it, right? You said that stood out to you. Did anything else stand out? Because today's plea, I'm just wondering. There was so much information in here. What does this tell us about what Mueller knows and the kind of intel he has?

QUINN: Well, like previous filings, I think everyone read that document and thought wow. He is just exquisitely careful. He is way ahead of everyone else in terms of what he knows. And you know, the first thing I wondered of course, was reading this, did he provide a question to President Trump, you know, in terms of these written questions that the Special Counsel's office was giving to President Trump and answers to which were provided just recently.

You know, I'm sure -- I think we know that this subject was among the subjects about which Mueller's operation provided questions to President Trump. We're going to see now whether those answers were consistent with what we learned today.

LEMON: Yes, I think the timing is important, right? Because this comes just a couple days or shortly I should say after the President submitted his written questions, his written answers to the Special Counsel. Sources telling CNN, John, that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker has informed, was informed ahead of time for this. If the President put Whitaker in charge of the DOJ to help him with this Russia investigation, he can't be really happy with him right now, can he?

DEAN: Well, you know, it's not clear from the reporting which has been mixed all day as to whether or not Rosenstein is still in charge of the Russian investigation. It appears that he is. That he is still not been removed from that position, but the Attorney General was informed and passed that information on. So I don't think -- maybe he is not in a position to do anything, Don.

LEMON: Yes. Here's what our reporting is saying that Attorney General Rosenstein is still in charge of the day-to-day handling of the Russia investigation, but Whitaker is his boss. And he has been a critic of Mueller. So what happens if they disagree on something?

QUINN: Whitaker's the boss.

DEAN: And he had to have been informed.

LEMON: Wait. Hold on. I want to get John. And I will get you Jack. Go ahead, John.

DEAN: I was going to say I think if Whitaker had opposed that Rosenstein knows the case so much better, knows Mueller so much better that he would tell the big fellow to back off.

LEMON: Got it. DEAN: And give him some advice.

LEMON: Go on, Jack.

QUINN: Yes. Look, I think that Whitaker had to have been informed. He is in charge of the department. I can't imagine that Rosenstein would jeopardize his standing, I mean particularly after that recent outrageous tweet depicting him and everyone else as being behind bars, I can't imagine that Rosenstein would have knowledge of this filing happening the next day and not have informed Whitaker.

I believe he did. And that Whitaker in turn informed the President and my surmise is that Whitaker correctly calculated that he would really be in jeopardy particularly up on the Hill if he did something precipitous and stood in the way of this.

LEMON: I mean, you guys say this, but you've heard what James Comey, and the former FBI Director said about Whitaker, that he wasn't the sharpest knife in our drawer. That is a quote from him, but he doubts that Whitaker would derail the Russia investigation. Given that Mueller seems to be plowing ahead right now, do you think Comey is right? First Jack.

[23:10:00] QUINN: I'm not going to characterize particularly somebody I don't know. I have no idea what his capabilities are.

LEMON: But what about the second part of the question then? If it is -- that given what Mueller seems to -- what he knows he seems to be plowing ahead right now?

QUINN: Mueller does?

LEMON: Yes.

QUINN: Yes, he is plowing ahead. And is I said earlier, I mean, he is incredibly careful. Look, almost every single one of his filings in this case has amazed the, you know, legal community at the least and frequently the public generally. He is doing an exquisitely careful job.

He is clearly building toward a resolution of this case. That is not to say that you know, we know the end game here. We know who will be indicted and who will not be indicted whether there might be an impeachment or not. We don't know that. But he is building a case. He is clearly not about to finish.

LEMON: That was my question. That is my question to John. John, listen, you've been through something similar. Everyone keeps saying, well, not everyone, but a lot of people keep saying it's about to wrap up, it's about to wrap up, but some of the sharpest minds I've heard and according to Jack, it's only the beginning. This is just the start of it. Do you agree with that, John?

DEAN: I agree. I don't think it's very far along in the big picture at all. I think Mueller has settled in. He is got his key staff. He is taking things that are not relevant to his office and feeding them out to other offices. And he is going to have a very in shape team when they get ready to go to trial.

And those trials if somebody doesn't plead are going to be protracted trials, probably. But Don, one of the other things to pick up on what Jack was saying is on how careful this guy is, Mueller, he seems to have documentary evidence behind every charge he makes. We saw that in the Corsi draft material. We saw that today in the Cohen pleading. So, and it has been consistent throughout. So he is building powerful stuff.

QUINN: Two of quick points. One he may also have tapes. And two, he still has to close this Julian Assange link.

LEMON: OK. I got to run. Thank you, gentlemen. Take your vitamins. Eat your vitamins and your Orange Fruit J and get strong. Go to the gym, get some sleep. It's only the beginning.

Donald Trump has spent a lot of time trying to deny that he had business interests in Russia, but remember when he tweeted, do you think Putin will be going to the Miss Universe pageant in November in Moscow? If so, will he become my new best friend? How far did they go to pursue that? That is next.

[23:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: We're getting new information tonight about just how badly Donald Trump's team apparently wanted to do business in Russia. They even considered offering Vladimir Putin the penthouse in Trump Tower Moscow. That is according to Felix Sater, a Russian born business associate of Trump's who worked on the project with Michael Cohen.

BuzzFeed is reporting that penthouse would have been worth $50 million. Here to discuss, Walter Shaub. He is the former Director of the Office of Government Ethics. And David Cay Johnston is the author of "It's Even Worse than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America."

Gentlemen, good evening. Every day, there's something. So David, I'm going to start with you because you know, Trump started pushing for a Moscow deal, this is in the '80s. Here he is back then in Russia with his then wife. This is Ivana Trump, right? Was the Moscow building the holy grail for Donald Trump?

DAVID CAY JOHNSON, AUTHOR: Well, Donald had this vision of having Trump Towers all over the world with his name and all faux gold letters. There have been I believe five different attempts to get a building like this. The idea of giving the penthouse apartment however to the modern czar, actually smart business move, because many oligarchs might feel an obligation to buy an apartment and that would bring Donald a lot of money along with his partners.

LEMON: Interesting. So Walter, you just heard what David said and you heard me mention they were considering giving Putin this penthouse right in the Moscow Trump Tower. $50 million. What kind of issues does that raise for you?

WALTER SHAUB, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, who hasn't thought about giving Vladimir Putin a $50 million condo? You know, this goes to the heart of what we don't know. He is got a financial disclosure report that is you know, about an inch thick. And each page has multiple, multiple assets on it. And the only thing we know about them is their name and their value. And in some cases the income they produce, but not even in all the cases.

What we don't know is his business partners, his customers, we don't know who he is dependent on for deals. And so this is a peek if we had a deck of cards laid face down on the table, this is a peek under the corner of one of those cards. So it's not surprising that we've discovered something troubling like this potential business deal that he was working on really late in the election with Russia.

It just goes to show that business has been his primary interest and not public service. And what we don't know, ought to scare us. And reminded by the title of David's book, you know, it's much worse than we think.

LEMON: I just wonder, I mean, what was his obsession with doing business in Russia? I mean, you know, David, Donald Trump, he even pushed for to bring Trump vodka to Russia in 2007, but reports show that it didn't sell. Why is he --

[23:20:00] CAY JOHNSON: It didn't sell here either.

LEMON: What was it about Russia that intrigued him so much? Why was he so obsessed with doing business there?

CAY JOHNSON: I honestly, I don't know the answer to that. The Russians however began courting him in, I think it was 1987 before the end of the soviet empire with this trip that he and Ivanka went on. And Donald is very, very susceptible to people who flatter him. Remember part of the very well-crafted efforts by the Kremlin to interfere with other countries includes identifying people who may be important and who can be in some way compromised or turned into friends.

The Russians are really very good at that. And they have been putting money in Donald's pocket for 30 years. And you know, as Donald said about the Saudis, why should I hate them? They've given me hundreds of millions of dollars for real estate. So I can see why even when Trump was merely a blow hard of celebrity in New York, the Russians might well think it was worth investing him the same way venture capitalists you know, put money into lots of different companies and maybe they get Google or Netflix out of it.

LEMON: So this is according to "The Washington Post," David that, Donald Trump Jr. made six trips to Russia in 18 months around 2008. He is seen in Russia. Here he is, right? With his sister Ivanka. His brother Eric. Take a good look at that picture. How important was that Russia deal for the Trump children?

CAY JOHNSON: Well, it was very important to the Trump family. I mean, Don Jr. or Eric I forget which one came back from one of those trips and told a real estate trade publication that we have a disproportionate assets of -- share of assets coming from the Russians.

LEMON: I think it was Eric, wasn't it.

CAY JOHNSON: I think, it was Eric --

LEMON: Don Jr., OK, sorry.

CAY JOHNSON: It was Don Jr. Donald couldn't borrow from American banks after his 1990 debacle. They would not want to lend. Deutsche bank which has long been a money laundering operation in part for Russian oligarchs is the only place that loaned him money and Russians needed during that era of the '90s and the first decade of this century to move money out of the country to find places to park it.

And so there's deepen in (inaudible). And Walter is exactly right. We don't have a clue to what's really going on and we don't even know the value of his properties. Donald puts values on some of his properties that are ridiculously high when you look at comparable properties.

LEMON: I want to put up what you just said. This is Don Jr. and this is 2008, all right, telling investors this, OK. And you just mentioned that Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross section of a lot of our assets, he said, explaining that Russians found the Trump name appealing and were buying units in the company's buildings around the world. So, I'm going to send it to you, Walter, now. What stands out to you from that statement that David just reminded us of?

SHAUB: Well, I think what that shows us is that there are links of some sort with Russia. And remember the burden of proof is on him. He decided to depart from the tradition of modern Presidents of divesting their conflicts of interest. If you're going to do that, what you do is you walk in and you say I'm going to ignore the ethics guy.

But here are all the things I'm going to do to be transparent, because I understand that the burden of proof is on me to reassure the American people that I'm using this great power they've entrusted to me solely for their benefit, but he is done the opposite beginning with not revealing his taxes and then not volunteering any information that isn't strictly legally required.

LEMON: It's a brand-new world, gentlemen. Thank you. I appreciate your time.

The President hastily canceling his meeting with Vladimir Putin today just after he said it was on. I wonder what Putin is thinking about all this.

[23:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The President and first lady arrived in Buenos Aires tonight, they are in town for the G-20 summit. But one world leader will be notably missing from the President's schedule and that is Vladimir Putin. Just after the news broke about Michael Cohen and the proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow, the President announced on Twitter, the Putin meeting was off. It was canceled, but he gave a different reason saying it was because of the conflict in the Ukraine.

Let's discuss now, Juliette Kayyem is here, Bob Baer, as well. Good evening to both of you.

Juliette, you know, they may not have their Trump/Putin meeting, but you say the Russians are very happy tonight. Why is that?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I think because they watch CNN, as well and they know what is happening to this President. I think we have to sort of look at sort of the totality of what we have found out today which is essentially how much leverage the Russians had over Trump as a candidate, and over Trump as a President.

As a candidate, he clearly wanted the financial dealings for his real estate to go through in Russia. That meant that the Russians had something on him. Then he lies about it which means the Russians had something on him and they wanted changes in policy which Trump was sort of obliged or willing to do.

So the amount of leverage that the Russians had over Trump whether it was exposed or not is something that we didn't know before, but now is sort of fully exposed by Michael Cohen. That is a very, very good place for the Russians to be, because it destabilized not just the presidency, but of course our American democracy at this stage. This is a -- this is a no laugh day today. This is pretty shocking.

LEMON: Bob Baer, you say that since 1986, Russia has viewed Trump as a man that they could do business with, and they play the long game. Explain that.

ROBERT BAER, CNN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY ANALYST: Well, they could see right away that he was biddable. In 1985, he started taking Russian money. It was dirty Russian money, mobster money from Brighton Beach. These people were connected to the KGB. He hosted a lot of these people. They're buying and selling apartments.

And he, you know, mimicked, parroted the Soviet line in those days and he was perfect, the perfect dupe for the Russians, and so they hang this hotel over him in Moscow. Russians had no intention of letting him build a hotel in '87, I know that for a fact, but they invited him there, interest supposedly, but it's actually the KGB.

And they look at this guy as a replacement for Armand Hammer, who was very pro-Soviet, ailing at the time. And so they know, they know Trump very well. They had report after report after report.

And they knew that even his running in the election in 2016 was a victory for them because he was -- he just overlooked the invasion of Crimea. They loved the guy and they could count on him because he needed money to do their bidding. He was biddable. They knew it.

LEMON: This news, Mueller dropped this news, Juliette, the Cohen news, right before Trump got on the plane to head over to the G20. I mean, this is a theme that we have seen, Russian news breaking as the president heads out on international trips. Do you think that there is something to be said about the timing here?

KAYYEM: It's hard to know. I mean, you know, I feel like Mueller has such a long -- he's got the long game plan here that it may have been just a coincidence. What I will say is that the sort of -- two things here. One is, Trump absolutely needed to cancel the meeting with Putin only because he could not afford another Helsinki, a post meeting Helsinki-type press conference. That could not sustain itself in terms of what they discuss.

One thing I want to pick up just quickly on what Bob said, so we're now in the full financial part of this investigation, right? We're looking at, you know, the leverage and the blackmail and the real estate. Let's not forget the election side of it. This only works for Putin, right? There is all this blackmail and leverage, if Trump wins.

And that is why these two pieces of the investigation, the election hacking, the fake news, whether there's meetings about WikiLeaks and the financial stuff, are related because Putin's leverage only works if Trump is in charge. And that's why, just let's not forget the national security and election side of this as well as we're following the money.

LEMON: Is it possible -- Juliette said, well, maybe it's just a coincidence. But is it possible, Bob, that Mueller is trying to send a message to Putin?

BAER: No, I think Mueller is just marching forward. He is clearly at this point. You look at all the leaks that have come out this week, he's got a good case for collusion. I mean, if this were a mafia investigation, Trump would be indicted under RICO. No question about it.

You look at all of these pieces, Assange and the fact that his server is hosted in Moscow, you got the GRU involved. He's got the GRU intelligence officers, Russian intelligence officer, brokering the purchase of this hotel in Moscow in 2016.

By the way, you know, it's a bar to federal employment to be working with a foreign government in a clandestine manner. I mean, why he's president is a question we're going to be asking for years.

LEMON: Interesting. You said to be prosecuted under the RICO statute. But it's interesting how that doesn't really -- that doesn't apply to him, Bob.

BAER: Well, it doesn't, but he's been dealing with the mob forever. I mean, just like he's been dealing with the Saudis. All of his partners, they were living in Trump Tower. Ivankov, famous brutal mobster was working out of his offices in Atlanta City. This is just a fact. It's something we all overlooked in the run up to the election. I'm not sure why, but we did.

LEMON: Yeah. Well, interesting. According to Michael Cohen, Trump was still pushing for a deal in Moscow while campaigning for president and saying things like this. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Putin called me brilliant. I like it.

So now I like Putin. Now Putin called me a genius, by the way. He said Donald Trump is a genius and he's the absolute leader over there and he's the smartest person.

I think Putin has been a very strong leader for Russia. I mean, he has been a lot stronger than our leader, that I can tell you.

Wouldn't it be great if we actually got along with Russia? Wouldn't it be great? Is there anything wrong with that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Interesting, interesting, interesting. So, Juliette, at the same time he was trashing NATO and the E.U., was he doing Putin's bidding?

[23:35:01] KAYYEM: Yes. I mean, it's so horrifying to see this knowing what we know now. Because what you are seeing in these clips, and I'm sort of catching my breath, because when you see them all together, what you see is the future president of the United States or the president of the United States essentially praising an enemy of the United States and someone who undermine our democracy solely for monetary gain and then undermining a very precarious at some times coalition in NATO and the E.U. to give Putin what he wants so that Putin gives Trump what he wants.

It's pretty simple. I mean, it's not -- this isn't rocket science. It's just horrifying. When you actually watch all of that, this is -- he is selling us, people. I don't know what else to say at this stage. He is selling us. He and let me now say it, Ivanka, let's say it again, Ivanka and Don Junior are now fully implicated in the selling of American democracy for the Trump family gain.

That is where we are and it's not over yet. We only know pieces of this. There were 59 -- how many hours of testimony did Michael Cohen give?

LEMON: Seventy. Seventy hours.

KAYYEM: Yeah, 70.

LEMON: All right. That's a good place to end. Thank you both. Appreciate your time.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

LEMON: Senator Scott reversing course and defying his own party. Why the only black Republican in the Senate now says he is voting "no" on the controversial Trump judicial nominee.

[23:40:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina announcing tonight that he will not support the nomination of Thomas Farr to be a federal judge. Farr is accused of supporting measures that discriminate against black voters. Senator Scott is the only black Republican in the Senate and his "no" vote effectively kills Farr's nomination.

Let's discuss with Alice Stewart now and Tara Setmayer. Good evening. Wow. What a 180, right? We were talking about it last night, and here we are. So Tara, last night, Tim Scott voted to advance Farr's nomination. Today, he said his final vote will be a "no." You said last night that he's a stand-up guy.

TARA SETMAYER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yep.

LEMON: You were right. Did you see this coming?

SETMAYER: Yes. I was -- if I had to bet last night whether he would have voted "yes" today or not, I probably would have said he wouldn't vote "yes" because he held the vote open for an hour because he was deliberating what to do. He voted to move forward the procedural vote, but he was still very frustrated.

The reports were clear that he was still very frustrated about what to do and that he was still unsure. He made it -- he made it pretty clear he was unsure what he was going to do today, that just because he voted for the procedural vote didn't mean it was guaranteed yesterday.

And then he wasn't the only that started to back off their support. Marco Rubio, Lisa Murkowski as well who endorsed Farr earlier in the week after seeing this memo that was issued from the Justice Department back in 1991 about the Jesse Helms campaign and that racist attempt to suppress black votes back then, that began to show some cracks in the support for Farr because they were troubled by how involved he was or was not in this.

He claims he wasn't as involved, but it seemed to be he was more involved than he initially let on. That was not OK for Tim Scott or Marco Rubio or Lisa Murkowski.

LEMON: Yeah. Last night, when Van said that he was a stand-up guy, right?

SETMAYER: He is.

LEMON: You said it, too. I said -- Van said, well, despite his vote yesterday which was a procedural vote, it wasn't the final, that he had done enough good things where he wouldn't hold one thing against him but then look what happens today. It was good that he gave him credit for --

SETMAYER: Second time he's done this. He backed another nomination that had racial overtones.

LEMON: But Alice, you defended Thomas Farr's actions, saying that he was not guilty of voter suppression. What's your reaction to this? ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I still defend him. At the same time, I disagree with Senator Scott's decision. I respect him. I respect the fact that he took his time and he did his due diligence and he looked into this and he investigate it clearly. And as Tara said, he's done this before, he voted to proceed with a certain vote. But at the end of the day, he voted against judicial nominee.

LEMON: What's the reaction from Trump supporters on this? Are they upset with Tim Scott?

STEWART: They're not happy with it because they certainly wanted to see President Trump's judicial nominees move forward. They support President Trump because of his ability to transform the power of the courts. But look, this is one in many nominees that we have out there.

Look, I still support Judge Farr. I think he was not as involved with the Helms activities with regard to what many perceive as voter suppression as indicated. He has said as much and I believe him. He has been very vocal with regard to voter I.D. which I think is important, election security which I think is important, and defending congressional lines which is what he has done which I think is important.

That being said, it is not unusual to see some people that don't agree with how he acted have issue with that. As Senator Scott, there are a lot of other people out there without lingering issues out there that can be put forth.

LEMON: I know you want to jump in, Tara. Let me give some of the back story and talk more about him. This decision came after learning about Farr's part in the use of postcards that intimidated African-Americans to keep them from voting in the 1990 campaign of Senator Jesse Helms as you talked about.

Farr was a lawyer for Helms campaign and Scott said this in a statement. This is what he said. He said, "this week, a Department of Justice memo written under President George H.W. Bush was released that shed new light on Mr. Farr's activities.

[23:45:04] This, in turn, created more concerns. Weighing these important factors, this afternoon I concluded that I could not support Mr. Farr's nomination."

Does that send a message, Tara -- I'm going to let you jump in -- does that send a message to other Republicans that some lines just cannot be crossed?

SETMAYER: I mean, I would hope so. I mean, we've seen a lot of lines crossed in the last couple of years in this Trump era. I think that it's starting to culminate.

If this nomination had happened in a vacuum and we didn't have what just happened in Mississippi with this racist now senator that just got elected in Mississippi and president supporting her, if what didn't happen with the president and his attacks on black female journalist, you know, the list is pretty long with the racial insensitivity, Charlottesville, you know, good people on both sides, all of those things, if all of those things hadn't happened and then you had this Thomas Farr nomination, probably no one would have noticed.

There might have been some back and forth but it probably would have gone through. But I think that Senator Scott --

LEMON: You don't think -- under the circumstances now, do you think someone else, you said because other people, their support was starting to waiver --

SETMAYER: Right.

LEMON: Do you think that someone else would have stepped up if it wasn't for Tim Scott?

SETMAYER: No. No, I don't.

LEMON: Wow.

SETMAYER: Unfortunately.

LEMON: The lone black senator?

SETMAYER: Yeah, well, you know, he's been very vocal about his experience as a black senator in Washington and in life and experience, you know, trying to explain to some of his colleagues that, you know, the experience of being a black man in America is different than what you guys every day even for me as a senator.

So he has kept it real as young kids say about that. And I think that's been a good education for a lot of people who think that some people are racially too sensitive.

LEMON: I seriously have a couple seconds left. Tara mentioned it earlier. This isn't the first time it's happened, Slice. He sunk the nomination. Ryan Bounds is one of them. He's the GOP's only black senator. What does this say?

SETMAYER: I think it says, look, I applaud him like I said for looking at the issues and doing his due diligence and making the right choice that's best for him. But keep in mind, yesterday, 50 Republicans and Vice President Pence were all on board for Farr moving forward.

The only ones who abstain were Jeff Flake who is on his way out and moving forward, if Senator Scott hadn't voted this way, I would say we would have those same 50 Republicans that would have voted for Farr moving forward to proceed without a doubt.

LEMON: Thank you both. I appreciate it.

STEWART: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: We'll be right back. SETMAYER: Thanks, Don.

[23:50:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: The Labor Secretary, Alex Acosta, was said to be on President Trump's short list to become attorney general. Not anymore. A source tells CNN he has been ruled out. And that's apparently because of Miami Herald investigation of him when he was a U.S. attorney in Florida.

The Herald is reporting that Acosta gave a sweetheart deal to a wealthy man accused of sex crimes, including sexually abusing underage girls. CNN's Rene Marsh has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAEL FISTEN, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: He's supposed to be protecting these victims and he was protecting Jeffrey Epstein, a pedophile.

RENE MARSH, CNN GOVERNMENT REGULATION AND TRANSPORTATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): According to an extensive investigation by the Miami Herald, accused serial pedophile and multimillionaire, Jeffrey Espstein, got a sweetheart deal. Thanks to President Trump's labor secretary, Alex Acosta.

The paper found that as a U.S. attorney in Florida in 2007, Acosta and another federal prosecutor struck a plea deal with Epstein's legal team just as the FBI was investigating years of alleged sex crimes.

The Herald reports Epstein's accusations include at least 36 underage victims, a steady stream of girls 16 years and younger in and out his sprawling Palm Beach mansion, and allegations he paid teens to recruit more young victims.

Michael Fisten is a private investigator for the legal team representing some of the victims.

FISTEN: I read the indictment. There was multiple allegations of sex trafficking, trafficking girls across lines, using his airplane to traffic girls, witness intimidation, and then all of a sudden it disappeared.

MARSH (voice-over): According to the Miami Herald, the agreement between Acosta and Epstein's legal team allowed the defense to dictate the terms, shut down the FBI investigation into additional victims and accomplices, granted immunity to potential co-conspirators, and it was kept secret from the victims until it was approved. Now, victims have filed a civil suit calling the plea deal Acosta arranged illegal.

Is it illegal or just improper?

LAURA COATES, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It could be both.

MARSH (voice-over): As for Epstein, he pleaded guilty to just two state prostitution charges and served 13 months in county jail. He registered as a sex offender and paid restitution to his victims. Secretary Acosta addressed the plea deal in his confirmation hearing last year.

ALEX ACOSTA, SECRETARY OF LABOR: Based on the evidence, the professionals within a prosecutor's office decide that a plea that guarantees that someone goes to jail, that guarantees that someone register generally and that guarantees other outcomes is a good thing.

COATES: For victims to be kept in the dark entirely in conjunction with an FBI probe being shutdown and a favorable plea according to reporting that says he's able to have work-release privileges and be able to leave his jail cell and not have publicity in a large extent of these cases, that's what's so shocking about this.

[23:55:10] MARSH (voice-over): The Herald interviewed several victims including Virginia Roberts, who was employed at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort which is near Epstein's mansion when she was recruited.

VIRGINIA ROBERTS, ALLEGED EPSTEIN VICTIM: The training started immediately. It was everything down to how to be quiet, be subservient, give Jeffrey what he wants. And, you know, before you know it, I'm being lent out to politicians and to academics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARSH: Don, it's too early to know whether the Justice Department's inspector general will investigate as South Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wassermann Schultz has called for. But this incident raises questions about Alex Acosta's judgment, if he brokered a deal that's unethical, legal or not in the interest of victims. It's a serious set of questions to have for someone currently in a position of power as labor secretary. Don?

LEMON: Rene Marsh, thank you so much. And thank you for watching. Our coverage continues.

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