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Soon: Biden Faces Reporters As He Marks One Year In Office; Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) Is Interviewed On Biden's Agenda And Priorities; New York Attorney General" Significant Evidence" Of Trump Business Fraud. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 19, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:24]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Hello. It is good to be with you. I'm Victor Blackwell.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: And I'm Alisyn Camerota.

President Biden will face reporters this afternoon marking one year in office with a rare news conference. Biden called for unity at least eight times in his inauguration speech. But he begins his second year in office in the deeply divided country and government. Also, critical parts of his agenda have stalled. His administration's struggles to contain inflation and the pandemic have been overshadowed -- overshadowing his achievements like the historic and bipartisan infrastructure deal in the $2 trillion COVID relief package.

BLACKWELL: CNN is also learning that party insiders are growing frustrated with the president. They say that he has no plan to help with the midterm elections this fall. In three dozen exclusive interviews with CNN, top Democrats say the White House political operation is unprepared and unresponsive, even to basic requests for help.

Let's get to CNN's Phil Mattingly at the White House.

Phil, big news conference about two hours from now. What do expect to hear from the president?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, so much of this afternoon's new conference coming at such a critical moment. It's about addressing anxiety, the anxieties of the American public, which is been borne out in poll after poll either from the president's approval or how he has dealt with the coronavirus pandemic, the economy, obviously his legislative agenda which is stalled on several fronts now.

But also, the anxiety inside the Democratic Party, which is seen a wave of retirements on the House, very real concerns. They will lose their majority in the House, potentially lose their majority in the Senate, who want to see the president come out and lay out a clear path forward. And I think when you talk to White House officials, they acknowledge, this will be a balancing act this afternoon. They want to highlight with a view is clear and underappreciated

successes from the president's first year, an economy that has recovered from the pandemic at a level that no other country has around the world, whether it's in growth or job or to some degree wage growth as well, even as it's been overshadowed by inflation. A vaccination program that is at least in terms of scale, it's more or less unmatched by anything the federal government is put together in about a century, and focus on those critical issues, while also acknowledging the president is likely to do that there is real pain, real concern, real anxiety, perhaps most importantly real exhaustion out there in the American public.

They see it in their polling. They understand that it exists and they know that the president needs to address it. But the real question coming into this press conference today is how the president lay out the weeks and months ahead.

We know COVID will always be the number one focus of this White House until it dissipates to a large degree. But whether it's on COVID, whether it's on his legislative agenda, whether it's on a series of potential foreign policy crises that are looming right now, particularly Russia's be on the border of Ukraine right now, how the president will lay out, how he views the start of his second year will be critical in terms of such the American public use things, but also as you guys noted, how Democrats view things 11 months from the midterms -- guys.

CAMEROTA: OK. Phil Mattingly, we will be watching. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: Thank you, Phil.

Joining us now is the House Majority Whip, Democratic Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina.

Congressman, welcome back.

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): Thank you very much for having me.

BLACKWELL: Is it time for the White House to make a course correction?

CLYBURN: Now, we should continue pressing forward. Now, build on what we already doing. I think that because people are focusing on the glass being half-full, rather than trying to fill it up, there are folks that gone the glass being half empty.

We need to keep pressing forward. I think the president did the right thing. When he came into office, he stop the deaths, improve the health, take control of the pandemic and then begin to look at other things. And that's what he did with the American Rescue Act, looking at a way to build upon his executive office.

And then we did the so-called bipartisan infrastructure bill. Now, all of that is focusing on what we need to do to continue moving forward. Now we will get Build Back Better done. Keep pressing.

No need for a course correction. Just keep moving forward. You don't always get everything you want first time. You try.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. Well, Congressman, the majority of Americans through polling that we see they disagree with you, and in saying that there does not need to be a course correction.

[14:05:02]

Three out of five Americans in the most recent polls I have seen have said that the country is on the wrong track. The president is underwater on job approval.

On the question of uniting the country, more people believe that the president is dividing the country than bringing it together. So what do you say to those Americans who say absolutely this country needs to be turned in a different direction?

CLYBURN: Well, it all depends on what you call a direction. I call direction your focus. Now, the president has laid out what I think is a great focus for the country, and he's trying to get a done, and just because it has not gotten done, doesn't mean it should not be done.

Just because -- was it course correction to take on the Freedom to Vote Act? Was it course correction to take on trying to do what's necessary to protect the right to vote? There's no course correction. It's getting the bills passed.

What we need to do the stop the filibuster so we can pass the bills. That's what need to be -- stop the filibuster and we'll pass Build Back Better. Stop the filibuster and we'll pass the For the People Act.

So, these are things that we're doing that's being stopped by a filibuster. That doesn't call for a course correction.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

CLYBURN: That calls for modification of traditions that have kept this country from fulfilling its mission of perfection that we all being searched of.

BLACKWELL: Okay. So let's look at it from this perspective and I want to start with February 26, 2020. Of course, your endorsement in the South Carolina primary credit with catapulting him to not only that win but the nomination. This is what you said about the commitment, the challenge for the country on that day when you endorse Joe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLYBURN: Our challenge is making the greatness of this country accessible and affordable for all. If it's health care, is it accessible? Is it affordable? Education, is it accessible? Is it affordable? Housing, energy -- make it accessible and affordable.

And nobody with whom I have ever worked in public life is in the more committed to that motto that pledge that I have to my constituents than Joe Biden. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Making the greatness of the country accessible and affordable for all. So, you say there does not need to be a course correction, but the restrictive new voting laws, making it harder to access the two polls in many states, voting rights is blocked. The proposals to reduce prescription drugs, expand Medicaid, expand the tax -- child tax credit, paid family leave, either dropped from or stuck in the Bill Back Better Act.

Inflation at its highest cliff in almost 40 years, when we talk about affordability. Gas prices going up.

The direction may be right, but the American people -- they are not feeling the results of that. What is more affordable? How is he matching up to the challenge that you set that day?

CLYBURN: When the president came into office, unemployment was somewhere around 6 percent. It's down 3.9 percent. When the president came into office, he saw a judiciary being turned into a bunch of Trumpists. He has moved a judiciary that is more diverse than ever. He has moved the American Rescue Act. He's done the so-called infrastructure bill.

So all these things he has done, and people keep talking about what has not gotten done. I just want to talk a little bit about what we've done. And he can't do all of a four-year term in one year. So, he's going to celebrate one year tomorrow. He'd be talking about today.

And everybody is looking at the tall agenda and said you hadn't gotten the whole thing done and you've been in office one year. So, you have nothing next to do for the next three years. Come on. That's not the way things work.

BLACKWELL: So let us look at the path forward and how to get the rest of what you say must be done to get done. Some challenges presented by the White House. I mentioned this exclusive reporting of the top impacting Democrats broadly.

Here's the new CNN reporting. Senior Democrats, including some White House aides describe the West Wing lacking both a political strategy and the discipline to execute one. Focus groups are giving party operatives nightmares.

[14:10:01]

Biden is coming across as old and absent, they say. Real and perceived fumbles play into deep fears that he's not up to the job and that Democrats are incompetent.

Are you concerned about the ability for the White House to get to the next step in passing the legislation to turn things around, especially as you look ahead, not only at the legislation but the midterms down the road?

CLYBURN: He's got a Senate that's 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans and two of those Democrats seem to be more concerned about placating the Republicans than the minorities in their own party. He's got a House with about five-vote margin.

So, the Congress reflects the division that's in the country. And so, the president needs cooperation from Republicans. Everything is about the Democrats. There are 50 Republicans who are opposing voting rights, 50 Republicans who are opposing Build Back Better, and they don't have the 50 Democrats.

So who is the obstacle here? So, I think there's enough blame to go around and to try to blame White House for filibuster that this president is working on, to try to work around is just not reality. The filibuster was around a long, long time. I knew Strom Thurmond who set the record on the filibuster back in 1957. It's nothing but a principle.

And so, we know history of this country, and we know that there are people there who will love to turn the clock back. Down in Georgia, they're passing laws that allow state officials to nullify the votes of people.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

CLYBURN: Is that President Biden's fault? No, it's not his fault. And we know that. What he's trying to do is pass a law to get beyond that, and those who sympathize with what they did enjoy in Georgia. Mitch McConnell has been on the floor.

BLACKWELL: Yeah.

CLYBURN: I saw Senator Romney the other day saying no state that doing anything that makes it hard for people to vote, we know that's not true. For some strange reason, we have decided that this democracy is going to be turned over to falsehoods because I learned early not to use the three-letter word.

BLACKWELL: I understand that, Congressman Clyburn, but this administration knew the numbers at the start of the administration when the president made the promises of getting this legislation done. We'll hear from the president himself in about two hours.

Congressman Jim Clyburn, thank you so much.

CLYBURN: Well, thank you very much for having me.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

CAMEROTA: So interesting to get his vantage point.

So, in a new court filing late last night, New York's attorney general says she has found significant and misleading statements in the Trump Organization's financial documents. She is ready to talk to Donald Trump, Don Jr. and Ivanka.

Well, the man who first brought the alleged fraud to light, Michael Cohen, Donald Trump's former fixer, is going to join us to share what he knows.

BLACKWELL: Plus, the January 6 Committee obtains phone records from Trump's inner circle. How will the former president respond to this?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:17:39]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLP)

REP. BILL CLAY (D-MO): Did the president or his company ever inflate assets or revenues?

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: Yes.

CLAY: And was that done with the president's knowledge or direction?

COHEN: Everything was done with the knowledge and at the direction of Mr. Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Well, that was Michael Cohen in February of 2019.

Now, late last night, New York's attorney general filed court documents saying she has now uncovered, quote, significant evidence of misleading and fraudulent practices, end quote, in the Trump Organization's tax filings and other financial statements.

And she now wants testimony from the former president, plus Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump. The new court filing reads, quote, the office of the attorney general opened this investigation in March 2019 following sworn congressional testimony from Michael Cohen, the former executive vice president and special counsel at the Trump Organization, that Mr. Trump had a practice of falsely inflating and deflating the value of his assets when it served his purposes.

Joining me now is Michael Cohen. He is now the host of the podcast "Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen".

Michael, great to see you.

COHEN: Good to see you as well, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: So, let me pull up some of the examples that the A.G. Tish James says she has uncovered. So here are the discrepancies just on some of the Trump properties.

This Seven Springs estate in 2012 was allegedly valued at $291 million. And then four years later, it was only $56 million. The Trump Tower Triplex was $327 million in 2016. But in other testimony, it was only $200 million. And then the 40 Wall Street building was $735 million in 2015, but a year later -- a year before that, it was only $257 million.

So, did -- how does this work? COHEN: The problem is you can't -- I can't tell you how it work because the only person that actually knows it work is Donald Trump. It's what ever he thinks that the value of the asset is. It doesn't take into consideration anything such as appraisals.

Or what he'll do he'll say, well, the building across the street, despite the fact that it's brand-new construction, it's not office, it could be residential, is valued at $2,000 a square foot.

[14:20:02]

He'll then turn around and say, well, because I'm 1,250,000 square feet in 40 Wall Street, therefore, I claim it's worth $715 million.

CAMEROTA: So --

COHEN: He just makes things up as it goes along.

CAMEROTA: Okay, but just so I understand, just explain to me, were you in the room as he was sort of spitballing these different figures?

COHEN: Okay. So the answer is, it wasn't on a particular one-off basis. What would happen is at the beginning of the year when we would end up in conversation about upcoming, whether it'd be Forbes 500 list or as a result of a journalist that was going to be doing a story about Donald Trump's net worth, we would sit there. We would take the year-before personal financial statement and Donald would say, let's say it's at $5.5 billion. All of a sudden, he'd say, it's not true. I'm worth at least seven, and within 10 seconds thereafter, you know what. In fact, I'm worth more than eight. You know what, I'm worth 10 billion.

And he would literally add $3 billion to his net worth simply a matter of under 60 seconds and our job -- when I say ours, I'm referring to mind, and Allen Weisselberg, was to go back with those documents, figure out how to increase the net worth, go back to Donald in order to show him for his approval. That's how it worked.

CAMEROTA: See, Michael, this is very interesting to me because as you so painfully, are aware, you are the person who in the Stormy Daniels payoff was the only person held responsible and went to prison. Is there any way in this situation that the responsibility and accountability ability will once again fall to you and say the Trump Organization or Donald Trump will say Michael Cohen did all this?

COHEN: Of course, because it benefited me in order to inflate his network. I also had absolutely nothing to do with the deflation of each asset so that he would pay less in real estate tax or less in taxes. That was done between Allen Weisselberg, Donald, as well as the accounting firm. So that argument isn't going to really work.

You know, Alisyn, what I do want to say though is I don't want to see Donald Trump go to prison or Don Jr. or Eric or Ivanka or Jared or any of them, simply because I politically disagree with virtually everything that they stand for. I want them to go to prison for the crimes that they committed. And in this specific case, Attorney General Tish James has all the

evidence. She is what's called documentary evidence. She has the goods.

CAMEROTA: And how -- and can you share with us how you know that? Have you provided any documentary evidence to her?

COHEN: So I have provided documentary evidence going back to the House Oversight Committee, to the attorney general's office, as well as the district attorney's office. So I know specifically the documents that they have.

On top of that, I'm not the only one. There are about close to a dozen corroborating individuals, which is so important to me considering Donald Trump labeled me as a convicted liar, simply so that he could denigrate me and he could ruin my credibility in the event that this case goes further and he ultimately has to sit for trial.

CAMEROTA: And can you tell us what type of documents you provided?

COHEN: Yeah, I rather not go through those simply because I made, you know, a promise to both the D.A. and the attorney general's office that I would not disclose the documents or things that have not been already previously disclosed to the public.

CAMEROTA: Okay, so here's my question -- it's been three years, basically, since you testified until last night, in a late-night filing, when she made that statement that we just put up there. I have heard so he's actually trying to compel the testimony, as you know, of Don Jr. and Ivanka. So, I've heard some our analysts on the air today say that this suggests to them that she does not have the goods to file a civil lawsuit because it's been three years and she's looking for family testimony.

So, how sure -- how certain are you, one to 10, today that a civil lawsuit is going to be filed?

COHEN: That is close to a 10 as you can get. First of all, the documents speak for themselves. I mean, let me just give you one specific example that is been talked about, but I think it's worth re- noting. Donald Trump made allegations, for example, that his triplex apartment at 721 Fifth Avenue is 33,000 square feet multiplied by a $3,000 price per square foot, brings the value of the unit up to $100 million.

In fact, despite being the builder, despite having his name on the building, what he didn't express is the fact that the unit is only 11,000 square feet. That's not something that you need Don Jr. or Eric's testimony on.

[14:25:01]

In fact, I think what they are just trying to do is to be more than 100 percent certain by having others who could also be involved with these type of inflation and deflation of the assets have been held responsible to. CAMEROTA: See, Michael, what you are describing is -- doesn't sound like a complicated math formula to crack. It sounds like somebody would know, oh, his apartment is only 11,000 square feet.

And so, how did he then mislead banks or lenders or insurance companies. How did that work?

COHEN: Well, because few people have ever been in the apartment and if Donald Trump says that the apartment being that he's worth $10 billion, according to his personal financial statement, well, if you're worth $10 billion, it's probably a better than likely chance you're telling the truth that the unit is 33,000 square feet when in fact it's not.

And so, that's how he would do things. Remember, the Trump Organization is a privately held company. None of this would have -- he would have been able to get away with had, of course, it would be a publicly traded company, but everyone relied upon his statements, which now we all know is a very stupid thing to do --

CAMEROTA: Yeah.

COHEN: -- because Donald Trump does not tell the truth.

Let me quickly the Trump Organization statement in response to Tish James filing.

The only one misleading the public is Letitia James. She defrauded New Yorkers by basing her entire candidacy on a promise to get Donald Trump at all costs without ever having seen finished ends and in violation of every conceivable ethical rule. Three years later. She is now faced with the stark reality that she has no case. Her allegations are baseless and will be vigorously defended.

All -- do you have make a quick comment to that? Because I do want to move on to also what happened to the House Select Committee.

COHEN: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, what did you expect them to say? To say, yes, you are right, you call us with our pants down? They're going to say anything that they can to deflect the responsibility onto somebody else. Yes, of course, Tish James has no document.

Of course she does. She is working in concert as well with the district attorney and I am seeing the boxes. They must have more than 10 million documents.

CAMEROTA: Okay, let's move on, because also yesterday, the House Select that's investigating the January 6 instruction issued subpoenas for these folks. These are, you know, all -- they have all served as Trump's attorney is at some point, from Sidney Powell, Boris Epshteyn -- he was a campaign advisor -- Jenna Ellis and then Rudy Giuliani.

And, of course, Michael, you remember, in our past conversations, you had predicted that Rudy would flip on Trump, quote, in a heartbeat if pressured. But that does not appear to have happened as far as we know, and yesterday, Rudy's attorney said he does not plan to provide any information to the committee. So, was your prediction wrong?

COHEN: No, I don't think so.

First of all, as you stated, we don't know yet. Second, what we do know is that the FBI came in when they raided his home. I happen to be on the street that time doing my park -- you know, my Central Park walk where I was allowed to be out, while I was still on the home confinement and I saw them all in front of his building. They took out boxes and boxes of information which mostly were on computers.

So they had everything that they need, not only do they have it on Rudy, who will turn. Rudy doesn't want to spend the rest of his life in prison. Neither does Boris or Jenna nor anybody else. I promise you, it's not fun and they don't want what happened to me to happen to them.

So, when confronted, rest assured, Rudy has no love for Donald, to the same extent that Donald has no love for Rudy either, and they will both turn on each other.

CAMEROTA: And how about Eric Trump and Don Jr.'s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle? CNN is reporting that the committee has also obtained their phone records. Do -- you know them, of course. Do you think that they will cooperate?

COHEN: I think everybody's going to end up cooperating. Otherwise, you know, Don Jr. is not going to -- he's going to lose his bride and his best man in one swoop. There is nothing to be left.

Yeah, everything is out there. It's all in text message. It's all in emails, but it's not like these were sophisticated spies using, you know, encrypted and what your burner phones and so on. They use their regular phones because it's just the way that they work. They have impunity when it comes to anything. They don't -- they believe that they are truly all above the law and whatever they do, they're entitled to get away with.

It's so -- it's so distorted in terms of thought. Rest assured every single one of them will ultimately be held accountable for their dirty deeds. And then you're going to start to see when really the ship starts going down, you're going to start watching everybody looking to jump overboard to save themselves.

CAMEROTA: We shall see. Michael Cohen, always great to get your vantage point on this stuff. Thanks so much for being on.

COHEN: Yeah, you got it, Alisyn. Be well.

CAMEROTA: Talk soon.

BLACKWELL: America's top diplomat is in Ukraine, as Russia continues to amass troops at the border.