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Sessions Plans to Testify Tuesday Before Senate Intel Panel; Comey on Sessions: "Facts That I Can't Discuss" in Public. Aired 8-9a ET
Aired June 11, 2017 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[08:00:06] JOHN KING, CNN HOST (voice-over): A defiant Rose Garden rebuttal.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No collusion. No obstruction. He's a leaker.
KING: President Trump ups the ante, saying he's willing to answer James Comey under oath.
TRUMP: One hundred percent.
KING: The former FBI's testimony raises the stakes for the president.
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: I took it as a direction.
KING: And for his attorney general.
COMEY: We were aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting.
KING: INSIDE POLITICS, the biggest stories, sourced by the best reporters, now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Welcome to INSIDE POLITICS. I'm John King, to our viewers in the United States and around the world, thanks for sharing your Sunday.
A remarkable week just behind us, including that election stunner and a gamble that backfired for the British Prime Minister Theresa May.
Plus, this on the world stage, after weeks of criticism, President Trump still won't criticize Russian aggression in Europe. But he does break his silence on the organizing principle of the NATO alliance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I'm committing the United States and have committed, but I'm committing the United States to Article Five.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: But we begin and we'll spend much of the next hour on big new twist in the Russia election meddling investigation. Attorney Jeff Sessions is a central player in all this and he announced Saturday he will appear in the coming week before the Senate Intelligence Committee. That committee, of course, was the venue for this past week's powerful testimony from the former FBI Director James Comey now locked in a high stakes he said/he said with the president of the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: So he lied about that?
TRUMP: Well, I didn't say that. I mean, I will tell you I didn't say that.
REPORTER: So, he said those things under oath. Would you be willing to speak under oath to give your version of those events?
TRUMP: One hundred percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: With us this Sunday to share reporting and their insights, CNN's Sara Murray, Carl Hulse of the "New York Times," CNN's Manu Raju, and Jackie Kucinich of "The Daily Beast".
The president's rebuttal, and you heard part of it just there and his offer to answer questions under oath, that's just part of his response to the riveting Comey testimony. The former FBI director told Congress that in a series of uncomfortable conversations, President Trump asked for a loyalty pledge, raised issues he should have known were off limits and at one point cleared the Oval Office of power players, including Attorney General Sessions before telling Comey he hoped the FBI would drop the investigation into Trump loyalist and former national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD BURR (R-NC), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Do you sense that the president was trying to obstruct justice or just seek for a way for Mike Flynn to save face, given he had already been fired?
COMEY: General Flynn at that point in time was in legal jeopardy. There was an open FBI criminal investigation of his statements in connection with the Russian contacts and the contacts themselves, and so, that was my assessment at the time. I don't think it's for me to say whether the conversation I had with the president was an effort to obstruct. I took it as a very disturbing thing, very concerning, but that's the conclusion I'm sure the special counsel will work towards to try and understand what was the intention there and whether that's an offense.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: The last part there from Director Comey very telling, that is up to the special counsel, who has the Comey memos, who has had preliminary conversations with Comey already and the president committed in the Rose Garden 100 percent his willingness to testify under oath.
After the riveting week, after the president's rebuttal in the Rose Garden where are we looking forward? Let me start with the question of Jeff Sessions. He is absolutely central to this.
On the one hand, you could say, here is the administration's chance to rebut Comey with a powerful witness, but as we speak this Sunday morning, he was scheduled to testify publicly before budget committees where he would be asked these questions.
Do we know if he now says I'm not going to do that, I'm sending my deputy, I will go to the Senate Intelligence Committee? But will he do that in public or private?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: We don't know that yet. We assume we were talking earlier, but we think he's probably not going to do this in public because --
KING: Can the Republicans allow that to happen?
RAJU: They can. They have the power to. Will they accept it? We heard Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, who is frustrated with the lack of responsiveness from other witnesses before the Comey testimony will he want to hear from Jeff Sessions.
What we do know was that from James Comey testimony was he had enough concerns about Jeff Sessions' role in the Russia investigation that he did not want to talk about those concerns in a public session. So, when they went into a classified session I'm told by sources who are in the room that he raised the possibility that perhaps Jeff Sessions may have had a discussion or some sort of interaction with the Russian ambassador in a third meeting that he did not disclose after he amended his testimony with the Senate judiciary committee. The question is, will those questions come up in a private session?
They will come up in a private session and will he say something that could open him up to, what, some Democrats say are possible perjury because he did not tell the truth about his interactions with the Russian ambassador initially.
[08:05:08] JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, that's the thing, because on the flipside, Jeff Sessions hasn't really proved to be a very strong witness in front of a congressional committee, as you said. He didn't -- omitted some of the meetings that he had during his confirmation hearing. So, while an open hearing would be preferable, it's -- you could see if it goes badly for the White House, this could make everything even worse than it is right now.
KING: My question, I'll come back to this in a minute, but my question is, what about the Republican brand? Can they stand for this?
He was scheduled to testify publicly. I'll leave it to lawyers to get into obstruction of justice, but it's certainly an obstruction of accountability. It's an obstruction of the truth. If the attorney general was scheduled to testify publicly and is allowed to pull that off the table and get into private after serious questions raised about the top law enforcement official in the United States' conduct. That would be a copout at a minimum.
CARL HULSE, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I think he's -- Sessions is making a calculation there that maybe the Intel Committee is a little more friendly venue for him, too. He does have John Cornyn, Jim Risch, Tom Cotton, people that he's worked really closely with.
I think Democrats thought Sessions might have had the worst hearing last week, that the most damage that was done was actually done to him.
KING: And what --
RAJU: At one point -- at some point, John, though, Sessions is going to have to testify publicly. So, he's attorney general of the United States --
KING: You would think.
RAJU: -- oversight committees, Senate and House Judiciary Committees that will have to hear his testimony eventually.
KING: And so, let's come back -- we'll come back to Sessions in a minute when we talk about other players here. But let's back to the president in the Rose Garden. After -- he's completely silent on the day of Comey's testify, which shocked a lot of people in Washington. He stayed silent.
He did tweet. Let's get to the tweet first, the president tweeted: Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication and wow, Comey is a leaker.
So, there's a lot to that short tweet. But essentially, the president of the United States saying the former FBI director lied to Congress, which is felony perjury if you can prove it. So, this is a he said -- Comey said repeatedly the president lied. The president says Comey lied.
Listen to the president in the Rose Garden. Jon Karl of ABC News trying to answer a question that was raised by another tweet from the president. Might we be able to resolve this? Are there White House tapes?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: And you seemed to be hitting that there are recordings of those conversations.
TRUMP: I'm not hinting anything. I'll tell you about it over a very short period of time.
REPORTER: When is that? Is that in public?
TRUMP: OK. Do you have a question here?
REPORTER: When will you tell us about the recordings?
TRUMP: In a fairly short period of time.
REPORTER: Tomorrow? Now?
REPORTER: Are there tapes, sir?
TRUMP: Oh, you're going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer, don't worry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: By the last part, one assumes that there are not tapes, or at least the White House is going to say there are not tapes by the disappointed part. They have committed to answering this question for the House Intelligence Committee in the next week or so, right? The House Intelligence Committee sent a request the other day saying are there tapes? We need the answer yes or no.
SARA MURRAY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I'm not sure what the whole point of this exercise was of the president throwing out on Twitter that tapes might exist and them the White House refusing to answer that question or not. If I had to put my bet in now, I'm betting that this is some crazy the president decided to throw out on Twitter and there are no actual tapes that exist.
But it's interesting that this is playing out at a time where he's basically asking the American public, hey, do you believe me, or do you believe James Comey? Now, we know that James Comey understands the consequences of lying under oath, the things the president has said are not under oath.
So, it will be very interesting for him to be making the case to the American public that you should trust me, not the former FBI director, while he's throwing all of these other things out there that may or may not prove to be true.
KING: And Director Comey knew that going in. Whether you like Director Comey or don't like Director Comey, he understands Washington. He understood and again, we talk more about this later but he understood, that this was -- if he said what he was about to say, this was going to come down to his word against the president of the United States' words, which is why Comey repeatedly said of President Trump from day one, I didn't think I could trust him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMEY: I think the circumstances, the subject matter and the person I was interacting with, circumstances first, I was alone with the president of the United States, or the president-elect, soon to be president. The subject matter I was talking about matters that touch on the FBI's core responsibility, and that relate to the president, president-elect personally, and then the nature of the person.
I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting and so I thought it really important to document.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: It's a stunning thing so day about the president of the United States. Remember, this is a meeting they had during the transition. There were several other times when Comey said he was afraid the president wasn't going to tell him the truth, that the president was doing things that were improper, or describing his firing, that the president was lying. He said that straight up.
But that is pretty remarkable: I was concerned -- honestly concerned he might lie.
RAJU: And we're going to learn about that, this seems to be going to be a part of Bob Mueller's investigation. The thing that should be concerning for the president is that these notes that he took after the meeting are significant.
KING: Right.
RAJU: Do carry legal weight.
[08:10:00] As well as Comey briefed his senior leadership immediately after each of those meetings to tell them exactly what happened. There were multiple that he told then, and those people undoubtedly will be interviewed by Bob Mueller.
KING: And right. And that's the key point, that nobody is going to bring a case, probably any case, but certainly against the president of United States on obstruction of justice on one witness. So, the question is, who else --
HULSE: Lordy, I hope there's tapes.
KING: Lordy, I hope there's tapes. James Comey said, lordy, I hope there's tapes. Plus, he also noted that in several of those conversations, there were either witnesses to the president shooing the other people out of the room or that his staff was around. It gets back to Sessions conversations as well, because that's where the other players are critical.
Did the president just say I hope you can let my good friend Mike Flynn go, he's been through enough, which is improper but perhaps not nefarious? That's what the team Trump are trying to say --
HULSE: I know, but there's no parsing, right?
KING: If this came up. However, however, the question becomes, well, why did the president raise it in another consideration with Comey later? And what did he ask of Dan Coates, the director of national intelligence, and Admiral Mike Rogers, the head of the national security agency?
Because listen to them, this was critical, it got buried this past week, these two men, clearly, the president brought up something they did not want to talk about in public.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADMIRAL MIKE ROGERS, NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY DIRECTOR: To the best of my recollection, I have never been directed to do anything I believe to be illegal, immoral, unethical or inappropriate. And to the best of my recollection during that same period of service, I do not recall ever feeling pressured to do so.
ADAM COATS, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I have never been pressured, I have never felt pressure to intervene or interfere in any way, shape with shaping intelligence and the political way or in relationship to an ongoing investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: They said they weren't pressured, but they refused to say if they were asked by the president of the United States, and they essentially said, we're not asserting any executive privilege, but they de facto asserted executive privilege because they refused to answer questions from Congress. This gets me back to Sessions point. Republicans were frustrated by that. They had no legal standing not to answer the question, what did the president ask you to do? Describe that conversation more fully. Can the Republicans now let Jeff Sessions get away with that, too?
HULSE: That was funny -- that testimony was bad, only because they came so ill-prepared to deal with that question.
KUCINICH: (INAUDIBLE) them as a result of that --
HULSE: And it actually seemed they were making the judgment, am I more scared of this committee or Donald Trump, right, because I could really get in trouble for saying something here that implicates the president.
KING: Say what? Say what? That's the issue. They're going to have to tell Bob Mueller what happened. They can't claim privilege to him.
HULSE: Obviously, I don't know what they were told, but clearly the takeaway is that they were asked to lay off. Otherwise, why would you not answer the question?
(CROSSTALK)
RAJU: They committed to at least saying this in a classified session to these members. So even if we don't hear about it, they're going to say to these members or presumably tell Bob Mueller and maybe there's a pattern of the president asking a number of people to drop the Michael Flynn investigation.
KUCINICH: Pressure is subjective, right? I mean, whether you feel pressured or not, they could probably say that they didn't feel pressure, but as you said, were they asked? And they refused to answer that question.
KING: At some point, they're going to have to answer it.
Much more to talk about. Everybody, sit tight up.
Next, you ask the Trump/Comey showdown is a huge drama in its own right, but this isn't just a he said/he said. We'll take a closer look at other key players and several key tests coming up quickly in the days ahead.
And politicians have the darnedest things. They have the darnedest things happened to them. This week, Senator Ted Cruz getting the hook.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R), TEXAS: Thank you for speaking out and working to re-take our nation.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage the southern regional director of Faith and Freedom Coalition, Virginia Galloway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[08:18:06] KING: Welcome back.
Any presidential interview under oath with the Congress or more likely with the special counsel would come near the end of the investigations and only after questions about other key players in the president's orbit have been answered.
The days ahead just might bring some of the answers to those questions, as the president's Russia ties are explored by Congress. Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser, Trump loyalist in the campaign, a central player. He took money, made trips to Russia, had multiple contacts with the Russian ambassador, after initially saying no, Flynn has now turned over hundreds of pages of documents to the congressional investigators, they are poring through those. Flynn, of course, was forced to resign.
Another central player, the president's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, a number of conversations with the Russians in 2016, not disclosed on the form when we applied for security clearance, that's one of the reasons congressional investigators are curious. His lawyer says he has nothing to hide and Mr. Kushner now planning to meet with Senate Intelligence Committee staff, that part of the process that eventually will get him to answer questions from the committee. So, progress on that front.
Jeff Sessions, as we noted, central to all of this, met at least twice with the Russian ambassador in 2016, again, he did not disclose those meetings on his forms. He recused himself from any Russia investigations yet somehow took a prominent role in firing the man leading the Russia investigation, the FBI Director James Comey.
His congressional testimony is Tuesday. We don't know the question of whether that's public or private and that's an important one because Comey's testimony raised several next questions about the attorney general's conduct and why the FBI leadership decided it was best they not share some important information with the attorney general.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RON WYDEN (D-OH), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: What was it about the attorney general's own interactions with the Russians or his behavior with regard to the investigation that would have led the entire leadership of the FBI to make this decision?
COMEY: Our judgment, as I recall, was that he was very close to and inevitably going to recuse himself for a variety of reasons.
[08:20:09] We also were aware of facts that I can't discuss in an open setting that would make his continued engagement in a Russia related investigation problematic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Now, you mentioned this before, what we later learned was the facts he wouldn't discuss in an open session was the possibility that Sessions had a third meeting with the Russian ambassador to the United States, could be perfectly innocent. The thing that raises questions is Session has not disclosed it, has not discussed it and at least in the two meetings we do know about, he like Jared Kushner failed to put it down on the clearance form for the government. That's why people are suspicious.
RAJU: Yes, and, you know, the thing about all these controversies with these Trump associates, maybe these meetings were nothing, maybe these meetings were just as Sessions said, this is normal for them to meet with many diplomats, you know, he did that in his capacity as senator, just because he met with the Russian ambassador, is not a big deal. The question is, why weren't these things disclosed properly initially? This happened time and again, this happened with Mike Flynn, there's one reason why he's in serious legal jeopardy, did not disclose the source of his former payments, including security clearance forms, including to get permission to do some of these things after he left the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Same problem with Sessions here. He did not disclose the two meetings during the judiciary committee when he was asked directly about it.
HULSE: When he asked -- that's the problem.
RAJU: And the third meeting, if it did happen, that raises real serious concerns as well.
MURRAY: That to me is one of the things that's stunning about this situation because during the transition, they obviously knew this Russia question was bubbling up. It was going to continue to loom over his presidency, and if you are Don McGahn and you know you were going in as White House legal counsel and you were building this team, you think from a lawyerly perspective, you would say, we need to make sure we are doubly transparent about everything related to Russia. We need to cross our T's and dot our I's, because if it looks like we're hiding something, that's going to make everything so much worse. And it is very clear they did not go through those steps.
KING: Unless your version of draining the swamp is not being forthcoming on forms on everyone who comes into the United States government, especially in the sensitive positions, are required to fill out. The interesting question is, as Kushner provides documents and it's a going to be with the staff, General Flynn has provided documents, we assume that will lead eventually to some meetings with the staff or at least investigations based on those documents. Jeff Sessions still a big question mark, do we get him in public or in private?
It could answer a question, one part of Comey's testimony that actually if you listen to it comes out quite favorable to the president. This is a question from Marco Rubio.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: In essence, the president agreed with your statement it would be great if we could have an investigation, all the facts came out and we found nothing. So, he agreed that would be ideal, but this cloud is still messing up my ability to do the rest of my agenda. Is that an accurate assessment?
COMEY: Yes, sir, he actually went farther than that. He said, if some of my satellites did something wrong, it would be good to find that out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: This is what's quite interesting because Comey there is essentially saying, the president was fine. Maybe if by Comey's view obsessed with shutting down the Flynn investigation but for other people, go ahead. Didn't say shut down the entire investigation, was just in Comey's view talking about the Flynn part.
HULSE: His satellite people, which was actually an interesting word to use.
I think that one thing that you're bringing out here, though, John, is this is going to play out over such a long period of time. We're -- this is -- you're going through all these different people involved. It's going to take a while to get to the bottom of this and we don't even know what the bottom is.
But the president now kind of put himself in jeopardy by his actions when there were indications the investigation wasn't getting to him.
KING: Comey tells him three times you're not personally under investigation. Now, the fact, the circumstances of firing Comey most likely at least have the special counsel taking a look at it.
KUCINICH: Right, exactly. As long as it didn't -- I mean, this whole, all of the president's bluster or most of the president's bluster has been about how it involves him, and this investigation dismissing it as a Democratic complaint over and over again.
HULSE: Excuse.
KUCINICH: It's an excuse.
KING: I don't mean to interrupt, but I want to listen to that, because the president's words in the Rose Garden were interesting in the sense he's been told by his lawyers to be careful. Even if you did nothing wrong, just be careful. There's an investigation under way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But in the meantime, no collusion. No obstruction. He's a leaker. But we want to get back to running our great country.
That was an excuse by the Democrats, who lost an election that some people think they shouldn't have lost, because it's almost impossible for the Democrats to lose the Electoral College, as you know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: That part is -- it's an oldie but goody.
(LAUGHTER)
KUCINICH: The only -- the fact that he said to Comey, oh, yes, the satellite people, might want to know about that. That's one of the first times you've heard the president or only times you've heard the president actually say, oh, yeah, oh and Russia interfered with the election, that's bad. He hasn't said that as often as he said this other piece.
MURRAY: And it was telling that James Comey said he couldn't recall any conversations with the president where the president was concerned about the Russia hacking, the Russia interference, and said, what can we do about this?
[08:25:07] How can we prevent this from happening again? Because there is no indication that this president cares about that. There's just no indication.
RAJU: And he never asked also about any of the other investigations, thousands of other FBI investigations that were going on, according to Comey's own testimony, the only thing that he was concerned about was Michael Flynn and the Russia investigation.
KING: Right, which begs the question, why?
OK. Up next, who do you trust? Prosecutors have one standard but it's a different standard in the court of public opinion, and that's a giant problem for the president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're under siege, you understand that. But we will come out bigger, and better and stronger than ever. You watch. The entrenched interest and failed bitter voices in Washington will do everything in their power to try and stop us from this righteous cause.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: That was the President speaking to Christian conservatives on Thursday -- Comey Day here in Washington. No direct reference from the President at that event to the fired FBI director, but a clear effort to rally his base at a time of deep political crisis for the White House. The President's political weakness is a very important element as the investigations drag on. So is the polarized partisan divide on just about every important issue in question. Let's look at the numbers.
Overall, the President's in rough shape, just 34 percent of Americans approve of his job performance. That's from a Quinnipiac University poll. Fifty-seven percent disapprove. And at a time his credibility is a giant issue, these numbers are damning. Just 36 percent of Americans say the President is honest, 59 percent say he is not.
But dig deeper and see the American divide, only four percent of democrats approve of the President's job performance, 93 percent of democrats disapprove. The flipside, 81 percent of republicans approve, just 14 percent disapprove. Is he honest? Only seven percent of democrats say yes, 92 percent say no. But 77 percent of republicans say the President is honest, 14 percent say he is not.
The partisan divide is not new. Polarization is not new, but it is exacerbated under this President. And as these investigations play out, when you have such a big divide about approving his job performance, and more importantly, I think, because of the investigations are these credibility questions, is he honest? Is he level-headed?
JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE DAILY BEAST: But he wasn't -- he was elected with upside down honesty numbers. Hillary Clinton also had upside down honesty numbers. Voters were prepared to vote either way for someone they didn't necessarily trust. So, I mean, it -- but it has gotten worse, absolutely. But perhaps this is what happens when you go in, not trusting the person who you've elected to be President.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: The numbers also give the White House some opportunity in order to rally their base if they turn these investigations, try to make it into a partisan witch hunt. This is why he constantly says, "Oh, this is a mainstream media witch hunt. This is," you know, trying to get his base to rally behind him. You're seeing some reflected in the numbers. The problem for him though is that what's happening in the Senate Intelligence Committee is a bipartisan investigation right now. What's happened with Bob Mueller is widely respected on both sides of the aisle, it's a serious investigation. And when he says to the American public, trust me, when people don't trust him, that's really hard when he says that, "I didn't do anything wrong."
KING: And it was clear that, again, that Comey was trying to work this issue, because he understands where this is going to. Your point from the last month, this is months at least. This investigation's going to go on and he knew the White House was likely to attack his credibility. So on a number of occasions, he called the President a liar, in this case, talking about he said he was fired, he went home, he was watching the administration's reasons and --
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: And although the law required no reason at all to fire an FBI Director, the administration then chose to defame me, and more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader. Those were lies, plain and simple.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: That's Director Comey testifying to congress and the President, a little later than normal. But he's on Twitter this morning, 8:29 a.m., meaning just moments ago. @RealDonaldTrump "I believe the James Comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone ever thought possible. Totally illegal?" He adds the question mark. "Very cowardly."
That's the President of the United States. "There is a question of whether Director Comey may have violated the FBI employee handbook, which says you will get permission before you leak any documents that you obtain during your tenure." But I don't know anybody in the legal environment who thinks this is not classified information Comey's leaking. These are his own notes about his conversations with the President. The White House clearly is upset with this, but the President, in the middle of this, firing back yet again something I'm going to guess his lawyers would tell him is not wise.
SARA MURRAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: My guess is his lawyers are not babysitting him at this hour on Sunday morning. Just a guess. But look, I think we are seeing the President lashing out, fine, he kept calm throughout the testimony. That's not what we're going to see from him going forward. They very clearly decided that they want to question Comey's credibility.
Now, that may very well work with President Trump's base of supporters, but I thought it was interesting to see Susan Collins out the day after this hearing. She wasn't doing interviews saying, you know, if the President asked James Comey to back off on the Flynn investigation, she was saying it's very troubling, like -- and ask Comey to back off. KING: And that's a key point. In the Rose Garden in these tweets, the President is trying to keep his space. It may be 30-something percent, but he's trying to keep them solid behind them. And the polling suggests so far, he's been able to do that.
But you -- my question is, how -- do the republicans hold in the sense that you're right, none of them came out and said, "Mr. Comey, you're not telling the truth. Mr. Comey, I believe the President over you." They found other reasons to try to help a little.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENT.: I guess I think it's understandable to me why the President would be a little bit put out with Comey, and say to Comey, "Good grief. If you're telling me I'm not under investigation, why don't you tell the American people? Because this cloud of an investigation is really damaging."
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R), MAINE: This is the first President in our history who has had neither a military nor a political background. And I think he just does not fully understand or appreciate the boundaries, and that it is totally wrong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Interesting to see the different republicans. So Rand Paul, Kentucky, strong Trump base there. Susan Collins, Maine, more of an independent, more of a moderate voice, but there's a strong Trump base in Maine, too. So she's not defending the President at all, but she's not trashing him, either. She's being kind of careful.
CARL HULSE, CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: But the -- you know, her points have been, throughout this, like a lot of the other republicans. Well, you know, he doesn't know what he's doing. You know, Paul Ryan came out and said he's just not steeped in the protocols, and --
KING: That worked really well for Hillary Clinton, when she said it was just an email server, I had no idea. Republicans didn't take that then.
HULSE: (INAUDIBLE) to your earlier point on the leaks. I will say for Trump, that feeds into the long-running narrative that he has been pushing, right? That the deep state is against him and feeding the media. So, you know, even if they're not leaks and leaking classified information in the conventional sense, you know, it does help him with his base.
KUCINICH: Well, he can't let it go. And what -- I don't know that, you know, in -- outside of D.C. that people are going to vote on the Russia investigation. What they're upset about -- and what I've heard -- is that the disarray, the chaos. They're sick of the President talking about things like this, and not the things that he said he would get done, and that's what members of congress are hearing when they're going home. RAJU: I think that's the real -- the way the republicans in congress are trying to compartmentalize. They're trying to push all the Russia issues, all the distractions over here, let's try to get this done over here, but the problem is that they can't get this done. They can't get health care done. They can't get tax reform done, then it all becomes a disaster.
KUCINICH: Yes. And the White House is trying to do the same thing. They farmed out all the Russia questions to his personal lawyer. That said, the President he won't let it go. Which has been a particular problem many, many times (INAUDIBLE)
KING: And it's early. Last week was the first week we saw the new legal team but a lot of incoming from republicans was they're doing this as a political strategy, not a legal strategy. A lot of republicans aren't convinced this legal team -- at least so far, they're still building -- understands Washington investigation, understands the (INAUDIBLE) of Bob Mueller.
HULSE: This is a specialty. You know, this is white collar government investigations. These are different from any kind of investigation in a legal matter you might handle in New York. And I think that's got people worried here.
KING: As we go to break, I just want to show a number here that also suggests there's a risk for democrats overreaching here. Here's the question on the Quinnipiac Poll, is the President abusing his powers? Eighty-eight percent of democrats say yes. Eighty-three percent of republicans say no. So a lot of democrats want to go impeachment, he's abusing his powers, we're not there from a factual perspective yet, shows you the competing political pressures as we go forward.
Up next, we shift gears. A surprising week on the world stage, just about everywhere you look.
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KING: Welcome back. Friday afternoon, the Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, delivered a carefully-worded statement criticizing the Persian Gulf Nation of Qatar for supporting extremism. But then, calling for dialogue and for Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and other Arab Nations to halt an economic blockade.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REX TILLERSON, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: There are humanitarian consequences to this blockade. We're seeing shortages of food, families are being forcibly separated and children pulled out of school.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: Short time later at the White House, Tillerson was standing nearby as the President of the United States, his boss, took a very different tone.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level. So we had a decision to make. Do we take the easy road or do we finally take a hard but necessary action?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: No mention there of lifting the embargo, though the White House insists the President was, by no means, undercutting his Secretary of State. Really?
MURRAY: Yes. They actually said that the President and Rex Tillerson were on the same page, they were just on different parts of the same page. It doesn't seem like they were even reading from the same book, based on their public statements.
But this is why it is so difficult and so consequential on the world stage to have a President who just sort of freelances and does his own thing and answers his own questions because other countries don't trust the words that are coming out of the mouths of other diplomats, or even the Secretary of State.
KING: He did promise to be unpredictable.
MURRAY: He -- and he is unpredictable, but that just means that other countries look at the U.S., and say, OK, this is not really sort of the stable democracy we're used to seeing and we're not buying what you're selling unless it comes out of the President's mouth.
KING: That part is key in the sense of, if the Secretary of State says something, if you're Saudi Arabian, Egypt, you don't (INAUDIBLE) the embargo, you want to hear from the President before you're going to do it. You want pressure from the President of the United States. And if he doesn't mention it, maybe you think you got some slack here.
HULSE: Well I think, again, this demonstrates the impact Saudi Arabia had on him in that visit there, and he's very close to them now. And I will say, when I -- the tweet on Qatar when it came out, talking to talking to people in both parties on the hill that day, they were really alarmed by that. That was one that shook people, because if there's one thing that democrats, republicans on the Hill agree with is protecting our bases and the people on those bases, and that really came out of nowhere. (INAUDIBLE)
KING: Giant U.S. Military installations moved from Saudi Arabia over the last 20 years into Qatar. They're (INAUDIBLE)
HULSE: That really made some people mad.
RAJU: Yes. Bob Corker, who was asked that question about the Trump tweet -- actually the Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, a republican considered for Secretary of State, he paused for several seconds, before -- he didn't know how to process it because he couldn't really believe that Trump actually would say that.
KING: One -- I'm sorry, go ahead.
KUCINICH: Yes, I was going to say you also saw that something on the other side, when Trump finally said that the United States is going to abide by Article 5, there was a sigh of relief because I heard republicans after he neglected to do that during his foreign trip were like, why did you do that?
KING: Right. Lecture the NATO allies in Brussels, did not mention his support for Article 5. Mike Pence on Monday -- seems like a month ago, it was just last Monday -- went to an Atlanta council dinner -- NATO dinner here in Washington and said, "Of course the United States stands by Article 5."
He mentioned it is significant that the President finally did that. He did that in the Rose Garden at that same event. I want you to listen here though -- but listen to also what drives what I'll call the black helicopter Russia crowd around Trump a little crazy. Listen to the question and then the answer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: On the matter of security, sir, you -- many of the countries on the eastern flank of NATO, including Romania, see Russia as a threat to the security and the peace in the region. Do you share this vision and do you think that United States should act under Article 5, if any of this country will be under military aggression? Thank you very much.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I'm committing the United States and have committed, but I'm committing the United States to Article 5. And certainly, we are there to protect and that's one of the reasons that I want people to make sure we have a very, very strong force by paying the kind of money necessary to have that force. But yes, absolutely, I'd be committed to Article 5.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: It was the latest in a long list of events. This one standing next to the President of Romania, in the Rose Garden of the White House, where he's asked about Russian aggression in Europe and he doesn't touch it. He just avoids -- yes, yes, he said we're committed to Article 5, but he's asked, do you share that? Do you share the views that Russia is a bad actor in Europe? And he says nothing.
HULSE: Well, I've watched that a few times now and it's almost like he does this off the cuff commitment to Article 5 to avoid answering the other questions, like well what can I say that would go beyond the Russia question there?
RAJU: I mean, this is a real problem too for him, because you see people on the Hill, the investigators, they point to the President's own statements, his affection for Vladimir Putin, his resistance -- unwillingness to really attack Russia the way other people in his own administration are, and certainly the republicans on the Hill, to make the case that maybe there's something there. So perhaps if he would have taken a more firm line -- firmer line on Russia, that could have dispelled some of those.
KING: This -- I don't know the answer. Is it that or is he just stubborn? That he knows people are going to -- you know, his people have been saying, "Why won't you talk about Russia?" And he's just, "I'm not going to do what you want me to do."
MURRAY: We get a clear -- it's amazing how long it has been since we've been asking this question and how long it's been that we cannot get a clear answer. There was, like, this moment during the transition where I think some of his aides were holding out the hope that he would say something tougher on Russia after he was elected and actually became President. It just doesn't happen. It's never happened.
KING: It's early on, it's early on. Keep hope alive. Everybody sit tight, our reporters share from their notebooks next, including insights on something once unthinkable, Senator Ted Cruz showing team spirit with the majority leader Mitch McConnell.
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KING: Let's close by heading down the "Inside Politics" table, ask our great reporters to share a little bit from their notebooks, get you out ahead of the political news just around the corner. Start, (INAUDIBLE)
MURRAY: Well, the President may feel vindicated in the wake of Comey's testimony but a number of republicans are feeling queasy about how the GOP is handling this. I spoke to one who got the republican talking points around Comey essentially questioning his credibility and this person told me, "I feel like I live in the Twilight Zone," just reacting with disgust at the notion of one of the two major political parties is smearing the former FBI director, and that's the talking point.
KING: That's the talking point from the White House. We'll see how long those republicans hold. Carl?
CARL: I'm hearing more and more that republicans are going to get rid of this old senate practice called the blue slip, where senators get to weigh in on whether a judge can go forward. There's a lot of states that still have only democratic senators. Republicans don't want these democratic senators to be able to block this push for Trump judges, so I think there's going to be some changes there, and there will be some uproar over that.
KING: And one of the places where Trump has kept fidelity with the conservative base, they're not happy with the judicial picks. (INAUDIBLE)
RAJU: John, as republican leaders are moving aggressively to cut their health care bill, they're actually finding an ally of sorts in Ted Cruz, a man who has been a thorn in the sides of republican leaders for years.
Behind the scenes, I'm told that he's working productively with republican leadership and trying to cut a deal. And this is significant, because already, republicans are probably down two votes in the senate with Rand Paul, Susan Collins unlikely to vote for whatever they come up. That means they can lose anyone else.
Ted Cruz also has his own issues. He's up for re-election, he's got to be concerned or at least considered for a primary challenge or against him, one person who has not ruled it out, Mike McCall, the congressman from Texas. I asked him if he's going to run, he would not rule it out. His people say it's unlikely but that's something, of course, he's got to worry about depending on how he positions himself on this health care bill.
KING: Ted Cruz same page Mitch McConnell.
RAJU: We'll see how long it lasts.
KING: I was going to say I feel the earth shaking. Jackie?
KUCINICH: Well, speaking of health care, while all of us were focused on the Comey hearing last week, there were other important testimonies, including that of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price. And Price was up on the Hill, defending the President's budget, which includes deep cuts to Medicaid. This is something that -- and it's a departure from what the President promised on the campaign trail.
As of May, Gallup said health care is the most important issue to Americans. So while the Russia investigation is very important, it's important to keep an eye on these issues that are driving the conversation outside of D.C. and New York.
KING: Right, and 2018 democrats think that's probably more fertile than talking about the investigations, just hope the investigations help. We shall see. I'll close with this.
That special congressional election in suburban Atlanta is a week from Tuesday, and if the democrat wins, what has long been a republican seat, you can be sure that will cause widespread GOP worries about a so-called Trump drag heading into the 2018 midterms. Now, democrats are celebrating a public poll that shows their candidate up seven points heading into the stretch. But two other polls shared with CNN show a much closer race, one has democrat John Ossoff up two points, the other has him down two points.
That guarantees a lot of heavy campaigning in the final stretch. And the big winner won't be coming to Washington. That big winner locals Atlanta T.V. stations who are making so much money off the ad spending, one added an extra newscast so it can rake in even more dough before the June 20th vote. Yes, we're on the wrong side of the television business. That's it for "Inside Politics." Again, thanks for sharing your Sunday. Don't forget, you can catch us weekdays noon eastern, too. Up next, "State of the Union." Have a great Sunday.
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