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James Comey Details Trump Conversations In Testimony; Soon: Fired FBI Director To Testify Before Senate; Do Trump's Actions Amount To Obstruction Of Justice?; Pro-Trump Ad Attacks Comey Ahead Of Testimony. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 08, 2017 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00] CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Congressman Jordan, appreciate your take --

REP. JIM JORDAN, (R) OHIO, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS, FREEDOM CAUCUS: You bet.

CUOMO: -- as always. Be well.

JORDAN: Thanks, Chris.

CUOMO: Alisyn --

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: OK, Chris, we'll get the other side next. What are Democrats' burning questions for Comey? A senator on the Intel Committee joins us live, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We've already gotten out fired FBI director James Comey's opening statement but lawmakers still have loads of questions and they are going to be sitting in that room there. (Video playing) Here's a live shot of people preparing. The media getting ready for James Comey's testimony. Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, he will be in there. He is on the Senate Intelligence Committee and he will get to question James Comey. Good morning, Senator.

SEN. JOE MANCHIN, (D) WEST VIRGINIA, MEMBER, SENATE INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Good morning, Alisyn. How are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm well. You've read his prepared opening statements.

MANCHIN: Yes --

CAMEROTA: What are your thoughts?

MANCHIN: -- a couple of times.

CAMEROTA: As have I. So what are your -- what questions do you still have for him?

MANCHIN: Well, you know, he was concerned from day one. He said he has never -- it was unprecedented. He had never done that before when he met with the previous president or any other time so what brought his interest to that level and why wasn't he acting on it? You know, at the end of the day --

CAMEROTA: When you say -- I'm sorry to interrupt, but when you say why wasn't he acting on it, what do you think James Comey should have been doing?

MANCHIN: Well, first of all, did the president know that there was an investigation going on? Was he speculating what he'd heard in the press or did he know for sure -- that we need to know -- and if James Comey was convinced the president knew. That will tell you. Did James Comey have an uncomfortable feeling because he thought the president had reached or gone too far? And if he thought that was the case then why didn't he move on it and do more about that, you know, and that's what we're going to find out. There's a lot of questions that need to be answered.

[07:35:22] CAMEROTA: But isn't it in his written testimony -- James Comey's -- that he actually did brief the president on the investigation and the fact that there was this dossier that had some salacious material and he felt that he wanted to tell the president about this himself, personally? So didn't that answer that question?

MANCHIN: Well, I wasn't clear on -- I know he talked about the dossier and how embarrassing it could be for the president and he wanted the president not to be surprised. I did not see that he specifically said we are investigating Michael Flynn, who you are considering or you have named or you're about to name as your security adviser. I didn't see that. I could have missed it. I'm going to make sure I clarify that today.

CAMEROTA: OK. So if the president, as James Comey recounts, said to him "I sure wish you could let this Michael Flynn thing go. Flynn's a good guy. It would be great if you could let it go," is that obstruction of justice in your mind?

MANCHIN: I'm not -- I'm not a lawyer and I'm not going to rule on obstruction of justice because James Comey should be able to answer that question for us. He's a top law enforcement. We've heard everybody else. You saw people going mute yesterday. We got very little information. Today's different, Alisyn. Today we get two shots at this. We get an open meeting which the entire country and the public sees. We get a closed meeting in intelligence so things that he's uncomfortable or he thinks it might be a breach of security or classified that he can't speak about this morning, this afternoon we'll get another bite at the apple.

At the end of the day is this committee -- the Senate Intelligence Committee has to be one committee that we're going to sign off on a report at some time and we're going to give our findings and why we signed off and what our recommendations were. Before I sign that I want to make sure that the rule of law was adhered to, that no person is above the law, not even the president or anybody on the lower end of the scale. We all have to abide by this law and I'm going to make sure that's adhered to before I sign off on anything.

CAMEROTA: And how are you going to get to the bottom of that today? I mean, you've heard what James Comey says. He felt pressured. He felt -- or at least he felt that the president was asking something that was inappropriate and out of bounds. So do you believe James Comey?

MANCHIN: Well, Idefinitely believe James Comey because if he documented everything he wanted the world to know it sometime or he was going to use it for whatever purpose, that's what we don't know. We're going to find that out. I think Chris and you both have been editorializing and going through it pretty good this morning -- I've been watching -- saying why did he operate one way under one scenario and not the other? There's a full investigation being done on the campaign before the election and now we have post-election and it's completely different and why. We're going to ask those questions. If he can't answer them in an open setting -- in a classified setting -- there's no reason why he won't answer or he shouldn't answer them and we'll press that.

CAMEROTA: Senator, I want to ask you about what you just mentioned which was yesterday. So you had this chance to interview the top intel chiefs in the country and, frankly, they were less than forthcoming and it appeared to be frustrating many of your Senate colleagues. So let me just play a moment for you from that hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANGUS KING, (I) MAINE: Why are you not answering these questions? Is there an invocation by the President of the United States of executive privilege? Is there or not?

MIKE ROGERS, NATIONAL SECUTIRY AGENCY DIRECTOR: Not that I'm aware of.

KING: Then why are you not answering my questions.

ROGERS: Because I feel it is inappropriate, Senator.

KING: What you feel isn't relevant, Admiral.

ROGERS: I stand by the comments I've made. I'm not interested in repeating myself, sir, and I don't mean that in a -- in a -- in a contentious way.

KING: Well, I do mean it in a contentious way.

ROGERS: Yes, sir.

KING: I don't understand why you're not answering our question. You swore that oath to tell us the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and today you are refusing to do so. What is the legal basis for your refusal to testify to this committee?

DAN COATS, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: I'm not sure I have a legal basis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Senator, why weren't they answering the questions? MANCHIN: I was as -- I was as shocked as everybody sitting in the room. I was sitting beside Angus King. I was next to ask questions after Angus and I came back with my question after Angus had gone through his and gotten no response whatsoever. Would you answer questions that we have such as this in a closed -- secured in the SCIFs where we're very secure.

CAMEROTA: And what did they say?

MANCHIN: They said yes, they would, both Coats and both Admiral, so we're going to see because then I said well, we have an afternoon session. It's going be in the SCIF, why don't you come down? We already had a session planned on 702, which is the -- which is our FISA, so that was already --

CAMEROTA: Yes, so did they show up?

MANCHIN: They did not and we -- no, and the chairman says no, we'll have them in. We're pressing that to get them in as quickly as we can to get this cleared up. The other two, Mr. Rosenstein and Mr. McCabe, were not anxious to come in and were not going to come in and speak about it any further because of the investigation that Mueller has. I have all the confidence in Mr. Mueller. I don'twant to impede his investigation wherever it's going and whatever he has done, however we can comply and help him, so we're going to make sure that's done.

[07:40:27] CAMEROTA: Yes. That would be great to get those answers and to have the American --

MANCHIN: We're going to.

CAMEROTA: -- public know that, and I know that you're trying. And, of course, we'll be watching very closely, Senator, to see if the questions are answered today during the open hearing.

MANCHIN: We're going to get there, Alisyn. We're going to get there. That's all I can tell the American public. We will get there. I know it's not as quick as people want. It's not as quick as I want but this is pretty painstaking. We're going through it step-by-step and we're giving them every chance they can. They're speaking what they wanted to speak in an open hearing. We can't force any more than that but we sure can in a closed hearing. In a classified, closed hearing we're going to get that and before I sign off on a report we're going to have the answers.

CAMEROTA: We appreciate your optimism. Senator Joe Manchin, thanks so much for being on NEW DAY.

MANCHIN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Chris --

CUOMO: And we'll see with that optimism and where it leads today during the questioning of Comey. You'll get to see how Democrats and Republicans prioritize and scrutinize. Next, the debate.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Today is the big day. Fired FBI director Jim Comey is going to talk to senators directly and tell them what President Trump demanded of him, how he felt about it, and what he thought it meant about the president's disposition towards the Russia probe. So what will come out of it? Well, there will be a lot of political posturing there but will there be any heavy, heavy signs of proof of any crime?

Let's debate with CNN contributor and former White House ethics czar, Ambassador Norman Eisen. And, CNN political commentator and former senior communications adviser for the Trump campaign, Jason Miller. We are assuming that the main focus of legality will come down to James Comey's suggestion that the president asked him to stop the Flynn probe. Obstruction of justice is the crime that gets thrown around. A tricky one, Ambassador. It's an intent crime. You need to have an official proceeding going on, you have to prove intent. What do you see?

[07:45:25] NORMAN EISEN, CNN CONTRIBUTOR, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ETHICS CZAR, FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Chris, good morning. Thanks for having me. We've already seen a narrowing of the possible obstruction case thanks to having Director Comey's testimony. The focus has become the Flynn conversation and I do believe that a prima facie case has now been made.

An affirmative case has now been made that by asking Director Comey can you see your way clear to dropping the Flynn investigation, and Comey makes clear -- and Comey knows what he's doing. He makes clear that he felt that was a request to drop an active investigation that that's an affirmative case, but there's much more to go. I don't go as far as some in saying the case is proved, open and shut, cut and dried. No, we have miles to go to turn that affirmative case into something more.

CUOMO: And, Jason Miller, what do you see?

JASON MILLER, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SR. COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER FOR TRUMP CAMPAIGN: Well, Chris, if Director Comey wanted to say obstruction of justice he would have written in his opening statement 'obstruction of justice' or he would have gone to Attorney General Sessions and said obstruction of justice, or he would have gone to White House counsel Don McGahn, but he didn't do any of these things.I mean, look, I thought -- and don't just take it from me. I mean, look at respected legal scholars like Jonathan Turley or Alan Dershowitz who both also said they did not see it as being obstruction of justice.

But again, I thought this entire thing was supposed to be about Russia. The only thing we heard about Russia yesterday was the fact that President Trump was proven right that three different times he was told by Director Comey that he was not under investigation but, still, Director Comey wouldn't lift the cloud.

CUOMO: So what do you make of all -- that's about politics, not about the legality. Ambassador, how do you want to respond? EISEN: Well, first of all, it's not the director's place to make the final legal judgment and he understands that. It would actually undermine his credibility if he said "I conclude this is obstruction," but he laid out the elements, not just the affirmative case that the president had asked him to drop an investigation and benefit a friend. That's corrupt intent. This is an intent crime. But then he explained why he didn't do those things that Jason is asking about because he didn't believe that he could trust the Justice Department and he did document it. He wrote a memo. He reported it to his internal staff and he said we'll see how the investigation unfolds.

MILLER: Norm, why didn't he take it to Attorney General --

EISEN: So I think that was --

MILLER: Why didn't he take it to Attorney General Sessions? Why didn't he take it to White House counsel Don McGahn? Why didn't he hold a press conference as he did when we had the whole deal with Anthony Weiner and his laptop? These are the things where if there was this activity that he was seeing and he was so concerned about it, I don't understand why it wasn't elevated and made a bigger deal of at the time.

EISEN: Well, Jason, he knew that as a matter of law that the attorney general needed to recuse himself because of his campaign activity, so that would have been inappropriate. Sally Yates took concerns about Flynn to Don McGahn and look what happened. I think Comey was exactly right to document it, to report it to senior FBI staff to let the investigation unfold.

And I want to focus on one other thing Jason said, which is this is supposed to be about Russia. It is, and one of the most appalling things reported about Donald Trump in this memo is the dog that didn't bark. He's only concerned about himself and this cloud over him and his friend, Flynn. Why isn't he asking Comey "What about the Russian attack on our democracy?" This was an act of gray war.

MILLER: Because he's trying to do the job the people elected him to do.

EISEN: It should be in there.

MILLER: He's -- the president is trying to do the job the people elected him to do. I know that the media loves to focus on the testimony today but I think most folks around the country are saying cut my damn taxes, get Obamacare repealed and replaced, let's get going with the infrastructure, but everything keeps coming back to this cloud that I think is artificially being held over the president. And he's been told three times he's not under investigation. He wants to go do the job the people elected him to do.

CUOMO: But you know, Jason, and the president obviously knew that other people were involved. It's not just about him, that's why he was asking about Flynn. And the American people, every time they're asked about his, they show overwhelming concern for the Russian interference and any potential collusion probe and wanting to know the answers. You don't think they care about those answers?

MILLER: Well, I think there are two different things here. I think the initial case that we're talking about here is the allegation that there was some sort of coordination between the campaign and some foreign entity, which at this point there has not been one shred of proof or one piece of evidence to go and substantiate that claim.

[07:50:07] Now, we learned from,I believe it was Director Brennan a week or so back during his testimony that foreign entities have been trying to influence and get into our campaigns for decades so this isn't anything new or specific to last year's election.

CUOMO: Everybody involved in the intelligence part of the coordination of this says it's unprecedented -- they'd never seen anything like this. That's why they came out so unanimously saying it was Russia and that it needed to be addressed. But here's what we do know. Comey's going to be asked to be answering these questions that you guys put out there and then we'll have a much better context for discussion. Jason, Ambassador, thank you very much -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, Chris, this is an attack ad unlike any we've seen before. The ad targets James Comey. It is being released today. What is the point and who is behind this ad? All of that, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: If you've watched T.V. in the past few years you've likely seen lots of negative political ads, but never one like this. We're about to show you an ad from a super PAC attacking former FBI director James Comey. It's being released today, timed to Comey's Senate testimony. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As head of the FBI, James Comey put politics over protecting America. After the FBI banned terms like "Radical Islam" for political correctness, Comey allowed the dangerous practice to continue. When terror attacks were on the rise last year, Comey was consumed with election meddling. And after he testified before the U.S. Senate, Comey's own staff admitted some of his answers were flat-out wrong. James Comey, just another D.C. insider only in it for himself. Paid for by Great America Alliance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: OK, the creators of that ad wanted CNN to run it as a commercial without discussion but we thought it better to invite the people behind the ad onto NEW DAY to talk about it. So joining us now is Eric Beach. He's a Republican strategist and co-chairman of the Great America Alliance PAC, the people behind the ad. Good morning, Eric.

ERIC BEACH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, CO-CHAIRMAN, GREAT AMERICA ALLIANCE PAC: Hi, Alisyn, how are you?

CAMEROTA: I'm well. So tell us about yourself and about Great America Alliance PAC. Who is behind it?

BEACH: Sure. Well, during the election, you know, our allied group, Great America PAC is something thatIstarted also along with consulting (INAUDIBLE). We were the largest outside group that supported Donald Trump and, you know, really, what we thought is after the election we needed to really push on the agenda that Trump ran on and that's what we're doing here at Great America Alliance.

[07:55:05] And, you know, the purpose of this ad is pretty simple. There's really two purposes. One, you know, James Comey, by all accounts, is very respected by most of his colleagues and by people on both sides of the aisle, but he also inserted himself into the political process and there's really almost no dispute among both Republicans and Democrats that he did that. And we saw this -- and conservatives, for a very long time, especially in the last eight years --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BEACH: -- we saw this with government agency overreach, with the IRS and other government agencies. The reality is this. Unelected bureaucrats should not have that kind of power to influence an election one way or another and we felt it was very important to understand the Mr. Comey comes here today not just as a former FBI director but as someone that was part of the political process.

CAMEROTA: That's interesting, Eric, because what is unusual about your ad is that James Comey is not a private citizen. He is not running for anything. So we often see negative campaign ads, but you're attacking someone who, as you say, was widely respected as the head of the FBI, so what's your goal here? I mean, to before his Senate testimony to try to tarnish him somehow?

BEACH: Well, no, not really. It's just to understand that you have to look at him -- you have to look at it through the prism of he inserted himself into a political process and so, you know, there is a lot of political practitioning that was going on during the electionand so that needs to be said. It's much like -- I mean -- and again, I don't think Democrats should complain about it when they ran an ad against Gen. Petraeus in "The New York Times," calling him "General Betray Us" and he was a national hero.

So, you know, from our standpoint, you know, the election meddling -- the second point of the ad was we wanted to demonstrate how the media viewed Mr. Comey then versus how the media view him now, and it's completely -- it's a complete 180. And the media saw him then as somebody that was inserting himself into a process that he didn't belong to or shouldn't have done and today it's, you know, oh, he's overly credible. So we just want to point out the facts going into this, you know.

CAMEROTA: OK.

BEACH: James Comey, you know, told the president three times that he was not under investigation.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BEACH: He held a separate press conference in July saying that Hillary Clinton was, you know, not guilty.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BEACH: That she's no longer under investigation.

CAMEROTA: We remember.

BEACH: He didn't have that ability to do so now.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BEACH: Yes, it made some news.

CAMEROTA: Yes, in fact, it did. But I want to ask you about what you say the facts are because we did some fact-checking of your ad -- your commercial -- and so let's just talk about that because one of the things that you claim in the commercial, you say terror attacks surged 650 percent last year worldwide under James -- well, no, you don't actually say worldwide. You say that they surged last year. You don't mention that that figure is worldwide and somehow you seem to suggest that that was James Comey's fault. How is James Comey responsible for a terror attack in Nigeria?

BEACH: Well, again, this isn't an attack on James Comey's character. This is talking about he was worried more about the election than as his record as FBI director. And, you know the narrative that the media seems to be able to point out is that he was fired so that, you know, Trump can save himself and that's not the reality.

CAMEROTA: Yes.

BEACH: Donald Trump -- President Trump, he fired James Comey because he thought in his tenure -- and by the way, many Democrats called for hisfiring --

CAMEROTA: Sure, I remember, but just about on --

BEACH: -- after the election, as well.

CAMEROTA: -- this fact in your -- or this so-called fact in your commercial, do you think it's misleading to say that --

BEACH: But James Comey -- James Comey had --

CAMEROTA: -- terrorist attacks surged 650 percent under James Comey?

BEACH: They did, you know.

CAMEROTA: Worldwide.

BEACH: Prior to James Comey -- well, prior to James Comey, yes, there was -- there was a culture in the FBI that said hey, we're not going to use certain words -- radical Islam and terrorism. That's something that Donald Trump said during the campaign. That is something that got carried out throughout Mr. Comey's three and one-half years.

CAMEROTA: I know, yes. That started under Robert Mueller.

BEACH: He said that was something that we believe --

CAMEROTA: Sure, but --

BEACH: Absolutely, and we made that clear -- and we made that clear in the ad.

CAMEROTA: Understood, but just one fact --

BEACH: But here's the point, Alisyn. The point --

CAMEROTA: No, no. Hold on, Eric. I just to hear the answer to this.

BEACH: Go ahead.

CAMEROTA: Do you that James Comey is responsible for terror worldwide and the 650 percent --

BEACH: Of course not. Of course not, but --

CAMEROTA: OK, so what happened in Pakistan and Nigeria no, even though that's what you're implying in your ad?

BEACH: No, but the FBI has a role in reducing and hopefully eliminating domestic terrorism and one of the ways in which they were able to do that -- and there's a record under James Comey on what that is. Our point of the ad is to demonstrate that he may have been more concerned about the political process --

CAMEROTA: OK.

BEACH: -- than he was as his record as FBI. And again, Donald Trump is able to remove the FBI director for any particular reason he sees fit to do that.

CAMEROTA: Very quickly, did you talk to the White House about this ad?

BEACH: We did not. We did not. We are an independent group, you know. We have some experienced veterans and we're very proud of what we've accomplished during the campaign and post-campaign.

CAMEROTA: We also understand you're chaired by Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani -- other people connected to your PAC. Thank you, Eric. Thank you very much for explaining the rationale --

BEACH: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: -- behind this PAC.

BEACH: I appreciate it.

CAMEROTA: All right, we're following a lot of news. Let's get right to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Did you at any time urge former FBI director James Comey to close the investigation into Michael Flynn?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, next question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Comey is saying the President of the United States is a liar and the President of the United States obstructed justice.