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The Situation Room
FBI Releases Key Memo Ahead of Flynn Sentencing; Trump Reviews Ex-Green Beret's Case; Interview With Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono; James Comey Blasts Republicans and Trump; What Did Russia Do to Help Elect Trump?; Trump Legal Troubles Escalating. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired December 17, 2018 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:01]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Powerful new Senate reports on Russian interference reveal the scope of Moscow's tampering with social media before and after the election, all aimed at helping President Trump. Stand by for new details on the tactics and the targets.
And commander interference. President Trump hails a U.S. soldier charged with premeditated murder, calling him a military hero. New concerns tonight about the nation's leader intervening in a criminal case.
We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLITZER: We're following breaking news on James Comey's blistering attack on President Trump and Republicans who refuse to stand up to him.
The fired FBI director saying Mr. Trump has lied constantly about the bureau and has attacked the rule of law in his attempts to undermine the Russia investigation Comey clearly fuming after a second closed- door hearing demanded by House Republicans before Democrats take control.
Once a registered Republican, Comey says GOP lawmakers are being cowed into silence by the president, calling their failure to speak out an everlasting shame.
I will get reaction from Senate Democratic Mazie Hirono, a member of the Judiciary Committee. And our correspondents and analysts are also standing by.
First, let's go to our senior congressional correspondent, Manu Raju.
Manu, James Comey's frustration with the president and with Republicans, they boiled over today.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they did. Blistering attacks from James Comey directed towards the president and Republicans after the president has launched attack after attack on the FBI, on the Mueller investigations.
Republicans for the most part have not stood up to this president. James Comey after sitting down with Republicans and Democrats as part of a Republican-led investigation in the House for the second time let loose and said the Republicans need to stand up because silence is not helping this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: The president of the United States is lying about the FBI, attacking the FBI and attacking the rule of law in this country. How does that make any sense at all?
Republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matter, the words of a president matter, the rule of law matters and the truth matters. Where are those Republicans today?
At some point, someone has to stand up and, in the face of fear of FOX News, fear of their base, fear of mean tweets, stand up for the values of this country and not slink away into retirement, but stand up and speak the truth.
I find it frustrating to be here answering questions about things that are far less important than the values that this country is built upon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now, over the weekend, the president attacked his former attorney, Michael Cohen, calling him a rat and also questioning about how the FBI raided the office of Michael Cohen.
The president said that he broke -- that the FBI broke into Michael Cohen's properties. James Comey pushed back rather strongly at the president's attacks against Michael Cohen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COMEY: This is the president of the United States calling a witness who has cooperated with his own Justice Department a rat. Say that again to yourself at home and remind yourself where we have ended up.
This is not about Republicans and Democrats. This about, what does it mean to be an American? What are the things that we care about, above our policy disputes, which are important? There is a set of values that represent the glue of this country and they are under attack by things just like that.
We have to stop being numb to it. Whether you are Republican or Democrat, you need to stand on your feet, overcome your shame and say something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now, before James Comey was fired, one reason why the president was frustrated with him was because Comey would not say publicly that the president himself was not under investigation.
Now, in this closed-door meeting, I'm told by a source familiar with the matter that this came up, and Comey defended his decision not to speak about this publicly, saying that the president appears to be under investigation right now, based on public reports, and had he made that declaration then, then that the FBI would have to come out now and clean it up and say the president is under investigation.
So he defended that decision in the closed-door hearing earlier today, Wolf.
BLITZER: Manu, Comey also defended the FBI's investigation of President Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn after the president repeatedly attacked the bureau for the way it questioned Flynn. Tell us what happened.
RAJU: Yes, Michael Flynn in the interview by those FBI agents in January 2017 has come under increased scrutiny by Republicans, conservatives and by Flynn's own attorneys, who suggested that it wasn't handled properly.
But Flynn -- but Comey today strongly defended it. I asked Comey if he handled that properly. He said he did. He said it is nonsense to criticize it, given the fact that Flynn himself pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his interactions with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak.
[18:05:01]
And he also defended his decision, James Comey did, not telling his superior, Sally Yates, about the Flynn interview until the day it happened, saying if he had informed her about this then, then Yates, an Obama holdover, would have been criticized for green-lighting an interview of the president's national security adviser.
And, Wolf, I also asked Comey if he had confidence in the current acting attorney general, Matt Whitaker, who is overcoming the Mueller investigation, and he said no comment and he walked away -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Manu, thank you very, very much.
Let's go to the White House right now, as the bitter battle between James Comey and President Trump clearly intensified.
We're joined by our senior White House correspondent -- our chief White House correspondent, I should say, Jim Acosta.
Jim, any reaction there to Comey's scolding of the president and the Republicans?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, Wolf, not yet, and that's pretty surprising, given the past that we know between the president and Jim Comey.
The president has not been bashful about going after the FBI director that he fired, and we have seen that on a number of occasions. It just has not happened yet. I'm sure it is coming. But, as you know, Wolf, President Trump's legal team is scrambling to stay ahead of the latest twists and turns in the Russia investigation.
The president and his outside attorney Rudy Giuliani are both beating up on the special counsel's probe, throwing punches in just about every direction, but it seems to be the truth that seems to be taking a pounding.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): The president's legal team isn't exactly spreading yuletide cheer, when asked whether Mr. Trump will sit down with special counsel Robert Mueller in the Russia investigation.
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: They're a joke. Over my dead body, but, you know, I could be dead.
ACOSTA: The president's outside attorney, Rudy Giuliani, suggested without any evidence that Mueller's investigators are now digging deeper into Mr. Trump's past business dealings, complaining the Russia probe is out of control.
GIULIANI: This is a witch-hunt. They're going back now, they're going back to 1982, 1983. They're going through business records. My goodness, they went from collusion to obstruction, no evidence, now campaign finance.
ACOSTA: Giuliani is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. When asked whether one of the president's associates, Roger Stone, gave Mr. Trump advanced warning that WikiLeaks was about to dump damaging information about Hillary Clinton during the campaign, Giuliani said no, but then added it wouldn't be a crime either way.
GIULIANI: Not at all. I don't believe so. But, again, if Roger Stone gave anybody a heads-up about WikiLeaks' leaks, that is not a crime. It would be like giving him a heads-up that "The Times" is going to print something.
Once the crime -- this is why the thing is so weird, strange. The crime is conspiracy to hack. Collusion is not a crime. It doesn't exist.
ACOSTA: Giuliani also seemed to offer a new detail about the Trump Tower Moscow project. The president's former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the project, admitting discussions about the proposal lasted until June 2016, but Giuliani suggested that Mr. Trump may have had discussions which went on longer than that.
GIULIANI: According to the answer that he gave, would have covered all the way up to November of -- covered all the way up to November 2016, said he had conversations with him about it. The president didn't hide this.
ACOSTA: While Giuliani hit the Sunday talk shows, the president worked over Cohen on Twitter, tweeting his one-time fixer only became a rat after the FBI did something which was absolutely unthinkable and unheard of until the witch-hunt was illegally started. They broke into an attorney's office.
But that's not true. Cohen later said those federal prosecutors were courteous and professional. House Democrats are eager to hear more of Cohen's story when they take control of Congress next year.
REP. ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D), MARYLAND: too. I'm hoping that Mr. Cohen will come before the Congress, where he can tell the American public exactly what he has been saying to Mueller and others, without interfering with the Mueller investigation.
ACOSTA: The president spent much of the weekend airing his grievances about the Russia probe, blaming it all on former Attorney general Jeff Sessions, tweeting: "Jeff Sessions should be ashamed of himself for allowing this total hoax to get started in the first place."
With the president staying behind closed doors, acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker was one of several administration officials stopping by the White House, from outgoing Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who is suddenly leaving the Trump team, to incoming Chief Of staff Mick Mulvaney, who had some explaining after this video surfaced from just before the 2016 election.
MICK MULVANEY, WHITE HOUSE BUDGET DIRECTOR: Yes, I'm supporting Donald Trump. I'm doing so as enthusiastically as I can, given the fact I think he's a terrible human being. But the choice on the other side is just as bad.
ACOSTA: The president has not lashed out at Mulvaney, but he did vent his frustrations on "Saturday Night Live," tweeting: "The show is nothing less than unfair news coverage and Dem commercials. Should be tested in courts. Can't be legal?"
That may have something to do with the "SNL" sketch showing what life would be like if Mr. Trump had never been elected.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would never, ever flip on you. You're my best friend.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: The president's outside attorney Rudy Giuliani also seems to be conceding that Mr. Trump did not initially tell the truth when he said he didn't know about the payments made to his alleged mistresses before the 2016 election.
[18:10:07]
The president, Giuliani pointed out, was not under oath when he denied knowledge of those payments to reporters. So, as far as the president's legal team is concerned, it is just fine for the president to change his story, mislead the public, as long as it is done to the media -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right, Jim Acosta at the White House, thank you. Let's talk a little bit more about the president and the Russia
investigation right now.
Our crime and justice reporter, Shimon Prokupecz, is joining us.
Shimon, Rudy Giuliani says there's no way he's going to allow the president of the United States to sit down for a face-to-face interview with Mueller and his team, saying that would only happen -- quote -- "over my dead body."
Why are they so opposed to the president answering some questions, if the president did nothing wrong, and has nothing to hide?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Look, you have Rudy Giuliani, who claims to be out there talking for the president.
He himself can't get the story straight. Every time we hear from him, there's always something new. Something doesn't make sense. He adds things to the narrative, he takes things away.
So it's totally conceivable that they're worried. As we have been saying all along, they do not want to put the president before the special counsel, before FBI agents, before prosecutors, where he could essentially be accused of lying and could perjure himself.
So that is their whole goal. And this has been their goal throughout this investigation, really has been to protect Donald Trump from the investigation, because there's always been this concern that he could lie.
BLITZER: There was a significant statement potentially that Rudy Giuliani made yesterday.
Originally, Michael Cohen said his talks with the Russians about building a Trump Tower in Moscow ended in January of 2016. He later said under oath that he had lied about that, they really continued until June, around the time of the convention, the Republican Convention, when he was getting the nomination, Donald Trump, continued until June.
But, yesterday, Giuliani says those talks, actually, Michael's talks continued as late as November 26. What's Giuliani talking about?
PROKUPECZ: Right.
The problem here, though, is now they're corroborating Michael Cohen's statement. The president, his lawyers, Rudy Giuliani have tried to go out there and paint Michael Cohen as this liar, he's just trying to get himself from under this investigation, he wants to -- he wanted less jail time, so he was making all of this up.
But the problem now with Rudy Giuliani saying this is that he is corroborating a part of what Michael Cohen has told the special counsel. The other thing here -- and let's remember -- is that the special counsel has said that there were discussions about Michael Cohen's testimony with people close to the president, with people perhaps at the White House, that were aware of what -- his lies, essentially, that he was telling to members of Congress about how this -- these conversations about the Moscow project stopped in January of 2016.
Well, now it seems that people in the White House have all along knew that these conversations were ongoing. So, therefore, did someone at the White House to know that Michael Cohen was lying? Did the president's lawyers know that Michael Cohen was lying, and therefore no one ever said anything?
That could potentially be a problem in the obstruction world that we know the special counsel is looking at for the president and certainly people who work for the president.
BLITZER: The president's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, he is going to be addressing the court tomorrow when he's finally sentenced. What do we expect to hear?
PROKUPECZ: Yes, and that coming on tomorrow, which it will be the day after these two business associates of Michael Flynn were charged for the secretive lobbying work on behalf of the Turkey government.
So tomorrow will probably be one of the first times that we're going to hear from Michael Flynn since all of this happened. We will hear him essentially try to apologize for what he did. The other thing that's going to be interesting is going to be, how much does the special counsel get into in terms of how much help Michael Flynn has been providing them?
They tend to not talk a lot. They try to not tell us a lot into their investigation. But with today's announcement of these two people, these two business associates, other information that has been out there, one of the things that perhaps will happen is, we may hear more about the special counsel's investigation and certainly as it relates to Michael Flynn.
But, in the end, most important probably for Michael Flynn is whether or not he's going to face any jail time. That's unlikely, because it seems everyone in this case really feels that his help has been substantial and therefore he shouldn't go to jail for what he did here.
BLITZER: Yes, the Mueller team has said he gave substantial help. They used that word, which is a significant word in a situation like this.
Thanks very much, Shimon, for that report.
Let's talk a little bit about the breaking news from James Comey.
First, joining us right now, Senator Mazie Hirono. She's a Democrat, serves on both the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.
Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D), HAWAII: Aloha. (CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Aloha right back at you. Thank you very much.
Let's get to what Comey is saying today. How effective is the former FBI director, his defense of the Justice Department in the face of these attacks from the president of the United States?
[18:15:10]
Senator, can you hear me?
HIRONO: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were going to play -- oh, well...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Hold on a second. I will repeat the question.
(CROSSTALK)
HIRONO: I'm sorry.
BLITZER: How effective is Comey's defense of the Justice Department and the FBI in the face of these attacks from the president?
HIRONO: The president is always on the attack, especially when the walls are closing in.
And he said the FBI just broke into Cohen's office, and nothing like that happened. So that's -- the FBI director said that's not what happened. And one hopes that the truth will prevail. With the president, that's really of little concern to him, apparently.
BLITZER: Your colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee, they released two reports today that provide a clearer picture of the extent of Russia's attacks back during the 2016 presidential election, with new information on voter suppression and the ways the Russians interest with and manipulated Americans in real time.
What are your biggest concerns about these new revelations, these new findings?
HIRONO: Well, the fact that Russia is still interfering with our elections, and they can do it with relative impunity because they have a president who keeps saying this is all a witch-hunt, et cetera.
But the length and breadth and the reach of the Russia interference, as disclosed by the Senate Intelligence Committee's work, is really striking. It just goes to show that they have been at it a long time, and who benefited from this? It was the Trump campaign, and they had every intention of making sure that Trump would become the president.
And that's what the Mueller investigation is all about, too, not only the interference, but Trump's -- the Trump team's efforts to coordinate, collaborate, collude, conspire to get him elected. BLITZER: Yes, I have gone through these reports. One is 100 pages.
One is almost 50 pages. It is breathtaking how sophisticated the Russians are in totally understanding the American political process.
HIRONO: Yes.
BLITZER: Let me read a line to you from a January 2017 U.S. intelligence community report on Russia's cyber-warfare campaign.
It says -- and I'm quoting now -- "We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities and actions of foreign actors. It does not analyze U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion."
But when you look at the details in these new reports, Senator, do you believe the Russians actually influenced the outcome of the 2016 election?
HIRONO: I don't think anybody can say that all of their extensive efforts did not have some kind of influence, because they were practicing tribal politics just the way Trump was.
So they were going after the blacks. They were going after minorities. They were doing all the kinds of divisive campaigning that Trump himself was doing. So I don't know how you can say that the Russian interference, which reached over 100 million Americans, had no impact.
BLITZER: And when it comes to the Russia investigation, the president's lawyer -- and you heard him -- Rudy Giuliani, he is defending the president, arguing that collusion is not a crime. What does that tell you?
HIRONO: That they're living in an alternative universe.
And at this point, it is hard to take Rudy Giuliani seriously as an attorney for Trump, because he contradicts Trump, he contradicts himself. He is all over the place.
BLITZER: Let me get to another sensitive issue while I have you, Senator.
We are waiting to see if a deal can be reached before Friday at midnight to avert a partial government shutdown over the president's requested funds for a new border wall to Mexico. You just visited the border.
Tell us, first of all, what you saw and whether you would be willing to compromise on a physical wall.
HIRONO: We already approved over $1.5 billion for border security, and we know that the Trump administration has not figured out how to spend all of that. So when you really sit down and think about 1,100 miles of a physical
barrier and a wall, of which of this 1,100 miles the United States government only controls a certain percentage of land, and the rest will have to be obtained through eminent domain, one wonders, how serious is this border wall?
So having visited the border and seeing children at Tornillo basically locked up, 2,700 of them, in a facility that was supposed to last for only 30 days, and here we are going on five months, there is no reason that these children should not be as quickly moved to be with their sponsors as possible.
[18:20:03]
And one of the things that the Trump administration has done in their efforts to stymie legal immigration, people coming to our country asking for asylum, which also is their right to do, is to create a process whereby these unaccompanied children are having to wait a much longer time to be united with their sponsors.
Why? Because they want to have fingerprint checks on not only the sponsors, but everybody in the sponsor's household or family, and this has a chilling effect, because a number of the sponsors are undocumented. And this information is shared with ICE, who then proceeds to deport these people.
So the Trump administration is doing everything they can to make it really hard for people to come across the border seeking asylum, which, under international and our own laws, is their right to do. And then, when they finally get here, we keep them separated from their sponsors for extended periods of time in a facility that's not licensed.
And then, as for the -- where the families are, again, there are alternatives to basically incarcerating families in these facilities.
BLITZER: Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
HIRONO: Thank you.
BLITZER: All right, just ahead, James Comey is shaming Republicans right now, demanding they stand up to President Trump, but are Republican lawmakers listening?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:26:01]
BLITZER: Tonight, James Comey is hammering President Trump and Republicans for lies being told about the Russia investigation.
We're also learning more about the scope of Moscow's interference through social media and how it's continuing right now.
Let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Alex Marquardt.
Alex, tell us more about these very, very extensive and detailed reports released by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The scope there, Wolf, is the key word.
These are two separate reports commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee that are just stunning in their breadth and their detail. They show the Russian efforts to try to blackmail, co-opt and recruit Americans as so-called assets. They then show how the Russians actively supported Donald Trump in the 2016 campaign, while also working to undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign.
And even after the 2016 race was over, they kept on going.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Efforts by Russia to meddle in American politics through social media are active and ongoing and far bigger than once thought.
That's according to a pair of detailed and stunning new reports commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee released today. The reports tracked Russian activity during the 2016 presidential race and after.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to win back the White House.
MARQUARDT: Activity that, during the campaign, worked to support Donald Trump's candidacy and undermine Hillary Clinton's, including by trying to depress African-Americans' votes and raise fears of a stolen election on the right.
RENEE DIRESTA, NEW KNOWLEDGE: They didn't just stop. After the 2016 election, if anything, on Instagram in particular, they really ramped up.
MARQUARDT: The analysis was based on troves of information handed over by Facebook, Twitter and Google.
In one data set, analysts found that the Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, which is linked to the Kremlin, posted more than 10 million tweets, 116,000 Instagram posts, 61,000 Facebook posts and 1,000 videos.
Earlier this year, the same group was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller. The Russian groups efforts went beyond misinformation on social media. The group regularly tried to co-opt unsuspecting Americans to do certain tasks or hand over their personal information, developing them as so-called assets.
In one example, Russian trolls created a page called Army of Jesus, targeting Christians and offering free counseling to people with sexual addiction. The hot lines posted, the report says, created an opportunity to blackmail or manipulate these individuals.
CNN also tracked down this Trump supporter in Florida who was paid by the Internet Research Agency to build a cage to bring to an event to call for the imprisonment of Hillary Clinton.
HARRY MILLER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: There is nothing, nothing at all to lend you to think that it's anything other than people trying to support a candidate.
MARQUARDT: The group's most prolific efforts specifically targeted black American communities, not just to depress their vote, but to develop them too as assets.
One such operation convinced and paid martial arts instructor Omowale Adewale to run self-defense classes for African-Americans to -- quote -- "Protect your rights, let them know black power matters."
CNN's Drew Griffin spoke to Adewale.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: They convinced you?
OMOWALE ADEWALE, MARTIAL ARTS INSTRUCTOR: Very easily, very, very easily. Some of the things were sketchy, but, at the end of the day, it's still fitness.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: The trove of data that was analyzed in these two reports was given to the Senate Intel Committee by those social media giants.
But one of the reports from the committee says that the companies only handed over what they called the bare minimum amount of data that was required by the committee. So that means there are likely many more Russian accounts out there still yet to be identified, just as our focus starts to turn to the next presidential race.
BLITZER: Yes, these reports really detailed how the Russians had a very, very intricate, detailed, sophisticated knowledge of American politics.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And it continues to this day.
MARQUARDT: And will.
BLITZER: Alex, thanks very much.
Just ahead: the impact of James Comey's words, as he accuses Republicans of being complicit in President Trump's attacks on the rule of law.
And Mr. Trump's defense in the Russia probe seems to change by the day.
1830
First, joining us right now, Senator Mazie Hirono. She's a Democrat, serves on both the Judiciary and Armed Services Committees.
Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
SEN. MAZIE HIRONO (D), HAWAII: Aloha.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Aloha right back at you. Thank you very much.
Let's get to what Comey is saying today. How effective is the former FBI director, his defense of the Justice Department in the face of these attacks from the president of the United States?
[18:15:10]
Senator, can you hear me?
HIRONO: Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you were going to play -- oh, well...
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: Hold on a second. I will repeat the question.
(CROSSTALK)
HIRONO: I'm sorry.
BLITZER: How effective is Comey's defense of the Justice Department and the FBI in the face of these attacks from the president?
HIRONO: The president is always on the attack, especially when the walls are closing in.
And he said the FBI just broke into Cohen's office, and nothing like that happened. So that's -- the FBI director said that's not what happened. And one hopes that the truth will prevail. With the president, that's really of little concern to him, apparently.
BLITZER: Your colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee, they released two reports today that provide a clearer picture of the extent of Russia's attacks back during the 2016 presidential election, with new information on voter suppression and the ways the Russians interest with and manipulated Americans in real time.
What are your biggest concerns about these new revelations, these new findings?
HIRONO: Well, the fact that Russia is still interfering with our elections, and they can do it with relative impunity because they have a president who keeps saying this is all a witch-hunt, et cetera. But the length and breadth and the reach of the Russia interference,
as disclosed by the Senate Intelligence Committee's work, is really striking. It just goes to show that they have been at it a long time, and who benefited from this? It was the Trump campaign, and they had every intention of making sure that Trump would become the president.
And that's what the Mueller investigation is all about, too, not only the interference, but Trump's -- the Trump team's efforts to coordinate, collaborate, collude, conspire to get him elected.
BLITZER: Yes, I have gone through these reports. One is 100 pages. One is almost 50 pages. It is breathtaking how sophisticated the Russians are in totally understanding the American political process.
HIRONO: Yes.
BLITZER: Let me read a line to you from a January 2017 U.S. intelligence community report on Russia's cyber-warfare campaign.
It says -- and I'm quoting now -- "We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The U.S. intelligence community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities and actions of foreign actors. It does not analyze U.S. political processes or U.S. public opinion."
But when you look at the details in these new reports, Senator, do you believe the Russians actually influenced the outcome of the 2016 election?
HIRONO: I don't think anybody can say that all of their extensive efforts did not have some kind of influence, because they were practicing tribal politics just the way Trump was.
So they were going after the blacks. They were going after minorities. They were doing all the kinds of divisive campaigning that Trump himself was doing. So I don't know how you can say that the Russian interference, which reached over 100 million Americans, had no impact.
BLITZER: And when it comes to the Russia investigation, the president's lawyer -- and you heard him -- Rudy Giuliani, he is defending the president, arguing that collusion is not a crime. What does that tell you?
HIRONO: That they're living in an alternative universe.
And at this point, it is hard to take Rudy Giuliani seriously as an attorney for Trump, because he contradicts Trump, he contradicts himself. He is all over the place.
BLITZER: Let me get to another sensitive issue while I have you, Senator.
We are waiting to see if a deal can be reached before Friday at midnight to avert a partial government shutdown over the president's requested funds for a new border wall to Mexico. You just visited the border.
Tell us, first of all, what you saw and whether you would be willing to compromise on a physical wall.
HIRONO: We already approved over $1.5 billion for border security, and we know that the Trump administration has not figured out how to spend all of that.
So when you really sit down and think about 1,100 miles of a physical barrier and a wall, of which of this 1,100 miles the United States government only controls a certain percentage of land, and the rest will have to be obtained through eminent domain, one wonders, how serious is this border wall?
So having visited the border and seeing children at Tornillo basically locked up, 2,700 of them, in a facility that was supposed to last for only 30 days, and here we are going on five months, there is no reason that these children should not be as quickly moved to be with their sponsors as possible.
[18:20:03]
And one of the things that the Trump administration has done in their efforts to stymie legal immigration, people coming to our country asking for asylum, which also is their right to do, is to create a process whereby these unaccompanied children are having to wait a much longer time to be united with their sponsors.
Why? Because they want to have fingerprint checks on not only the sponsors, but everybody in the sponsor's household or family, and this has a chilling effect, because a number of the sponsors are undocumented. And this information is shared with ICE, who then proceeds to deport these people.
So the Trump administration is doing everything they can to make it really hard for people to come across the border seeking asylum, which, under international and our own laws, is their right to do. And then, when they finally get here, we keep them separated from their sponsors for extended periods of time in a facility that's not licensed.
And then, as for the -- where the families are, again, there are alternatives to basically incarcerating families in these facilities.
BLITZER: Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
HIRONO: Thank you.
BLITZER: All right, just ahead, James Comey is shaming Republicans right now, demanding they stand up to President Trump, but are Republican lawmakers listening?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:26:01]
BLITZER: Tonight, James Comey is hammering President Trump and Republicans for lies being told about the Russia investigation.
We're also learning more about the scope of Moscow's interference through social media and how it's continuing right now.
Let's bring in our senior national correspondent, Alex Marquardt.
Alex, tell us more about these very, very extensive and detailed reports released by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The scope there, Wolf, is the key word.
These are two separate reports commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee that are just stunning in their breadth and their detail. They show the Russian efforts to try to blackmail, co-opt and recruit Americans as so-called assets. They then show how the Russians actively supported Donald Trump in the 2016 campaign, while also working to undermine Hillary Clinton's campaign.
And even after the 2016 race was over, they kept on going.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT (voice-over): Efforts by Russia to meddle in American politics through social media are active and ongoing and far bigger than once thought.
That's according to a pair of detailed and stunning new reports commissioned by the Senate Intelligence Committee released today. The reports tracked Russian activity during the 2016 presidential race and after.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to win back the White House.
MARQUARDT: Activity that, during the campaign, worked to support Donald Trump's candidacy and undermine Hillary Clinton's, including by trying to depress African-Americans' votes and raise fears of a stolen election on the right.
RENEE DIRESTA, NEW KNOWLEDGE: They didn't just stop. After the 2016 election, if anything, on Instagram in particular, they really ramped up.
MARQUARDT: The analysis was based on troves of information handed over by Facebook, Twitter and Google.
In one data set, analysts found that the Russian troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency, which is linked to the Kremlin, posted more than 10 million tweets, 116,000 Instagram posts, 61,000 Facebook posts and 1,000 videos.
Earlier this year, the same group was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller. The Russian groups efforts went beyond misinformation on social media. The group regularly tried to co-opt unsuspecting Americans to do certain tasks or hand over their personal information, developing them as so-called assets.
In one example, Russian trolls created a page called Army of Jesus, targeting Christians and offering free counseling to people with sexual addiction. The hot lines posted, the report says, created an opportunity to blackmail or manipulate these individuals.
CNN also tracked down this Trump supporter in Florida who was paid by the Internet Research Agency to build a cage to bring to an event to call for the imprisonment of Hillary Clinton.
HARRY MILLER, TRUMP SUPPORTER: There is nothing, nothing at all to lend you to think that it's anything other than people trying to support a candidate.
MARQUARDT: The group's most prolific efforts specifically targeted black American communities, not just to depress their vote, but to develop them too as assets.
One such operation convinced and paid martial arts instructor Omowale Adewale to run self-defense classes for African-Americans to -- quote -- "Protect your rights, let them know black power matters."
CNN's Drew Griffin spoke to Adewale.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: They convinced you?
OMOWALE ADEWALE, MARTIAL ARTS INSTRUCTOR: Very easily, very, very easily. Some of the things were sketchy, but, at the end of the day, it's still fitness.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUARDT: The trove of data that was analyzed in these two reports was given to the Senate Intel Committee by those social media giants.
But one of the reports from the committee says that the companies only handed over what they called the bare minimum amount of data that was required by the committee. So that means there are likely many more Russian accounts out there still yet to be identified, just as our focus starts to turn to the next presidential race.
BLITZER: Yes, these reports really detailed how the Russians had a very, very intricate, detailed, sophisticated knowledge of American politics.
(CROSSTALK)
BLITZER: And it continues to this day.
MARQUARDT: And will.
BLITZER: Alex, thanks very much.
Just ahead: the impact of James Comey's words, as he accuses Republicans of being complicit in President Trump's attacks on the rule of law. [18:30:08] And Mr. Trump's defense in the Russia probe seems to change
by the day as he and his lawyer talk and tweet. What does Robert Mueller make of all of this? Our analysts are standing by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLITZER: The breaking news tonight, the fired FBI director, James Comey, shaming and blaming Republicans for failing to stand up to President Trump. He's accusing fearful GOP lawmakers of, quote, "slinking into retirement" rather than calling out Mr. Trump for what Comey describes as constant lies and attacks on the rule of law here in the United States.
[18:35:19] Let's bring in our analysts. And Phil Mudd, over the weekend President Trump called his former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, a rat for cooperating with the special counsel. Watch how the former FBI director, James Comey, responded today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: This is the president of the United States calling a witness who has cooperated with his own Justice Department a rat. Say that again to yourself at home and remind yourself where we have ended up. This is not about Republicans and Democrats. This is about what does it mean to be an American?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: What do you make of that?
PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: The question is bigger. It's not just about Michael Cohen. It's about, look, you go back to the campaign, orange is the new black. The president of the United States says it's OK for a foreign security service from an adversary -- that is Russia -- to steal information from an American political candidate. That is stealing e-mails, as he said on the campaign, from the Hillary Clinton campaign. It's OK for that.
It is not OK for a domestic security service -- that is the FBI -- to go to the judge and ask for a lawful warrant not only to search Michael Cohen's offices, which the president attacked over the weekend, but to ask Michael Cohen to cooperate in what is clearly -- based on the judgements of the court and of -- of a jury -- what is clearly illegal activity.
So get this straight: It's OK for the former KGB to steal stuff. It's not OK for the FBI to see a court warrant in the United States to go against Michael Cohen.
Orange is the new black. The KGB, I guess, the former KGB is the new FBI. I guess that's what we've got.
BLITZER: You know, Sabrina -- I just want to play this clip, Jeffrey. I want Sabrina to respond. This is Rudy Giuliani, the president's lawyer, insisting the president didn't do anything wrong, but listen to the defense. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, LAWYER FOR DONALD TRUMP: It's not a crime. It's not a crime, George. Paying -- paying $130,000 to Stormy whatever and paying $100,000 to the other one is not a crime.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: Did the president -- did Donald Trump know that Michael Cohen was pursuing the Trump Tower in Moscow into the summer of 2016?
GIULIANI: According to the answer that he gave, it would have covered all the way up to November of -- covered all the way to November 2016. He said he had conversations with them about it. The president didn't hide this. They --
STEPHANOPOULOS: Earlier they had said those conversations stopped in January of 2016.
GIULIANI: Roger Stone gave anybody a heads up about WikiLeaks leaks, that's not a crime. It would be like giving him a heads up that "The Times" is going to print something. Once -- the crime -- this is why this thing is so weird, strange. The crime is conspiracy to hack. Collusion is not a crime. It doesn't exist.
I know collusion that is not a crime. Right?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Remember, he used to be a federal prosecutor, used to be U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudy Giuliani. What do you make of that defense?
SABRINA SIDDIQUI, "THE GUARDIAN": Well, the special counsel made very clear what his definition of a crime would be with respect to collusion, and that was in some of the indictments that we've seen, particularly against members of Russian intelligence, which includes a conspiracy to hack into the servers of U.S. persons and entities; to steal documents, which in this case were the e-mails of the DNC and John Podesta, Clinton campaign chairman; and then to release those with the purpose of influencing the direction of the election.
So if the president, then- candidate Trump, or anyone in the president's campaign was part of that conspiracy, then it would most certainly amount to a crime.
But the fact that Rudy Giuliani has gone from saying repeatedly there was no collusion to now saying collusion is not a crime shows that they recognize, the president's legal team, that perhaps his story will not hold. That he has changed his story multiple times, which suggests that his denials may not stand the test of time.
BLITZER: All right. Jeffrey -- Jeffrey, go ahead.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: How about the fact -- and how about the fact that suddenly both President Trump and Rudy Giuliani are saying, "Well, everybody knew he was negotiating with Russia during 2016"?
Nobody knew he was negotiating with Russia during 2016. That is a complete lie.
The whole point was that this mysterious affection for Vladimir Putin that he was displaying throughout the campaign, everybody was going, like, "Where did this come from? Why is he suddenly so solicitous of Vladimir Putin?"
Now he's saying, "Well, he was actually negotiating about Trump Tower Moscow during 2016."
That was a fraud on the American people. The whole -- the fact that he was not disclosing that he was negotiating with Russia during this period and now he's suddenly admitting it, I don't know -- I don't think -- that in and of itself is not a crime, but the magnitude of the deception on the American people just on that corner of the story is enormous.
BLITZER: You know, Jamie, listen to this famous defense. This is Richard Nixon back in 19 -- I think '77. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID FROST, INTERVIEWER: In a sense you're saying is that there are certain situations, the Houston part or that part of it was one of them, where the president can decide that it's in the best interests of the nation or something and do something illegal?
RICHARD NIXON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that was the bombshell moment 40-some-odd years ago.
No one is above the law. And -- but it feels as if we're back in that territory again when you hear Donald Trump say something is just peanuts or you see Rudy Giuliani, at best -- I don't know. He's evolving on what his client did or didn't do.
My question is why is Rudy Giuliani doing this? Is there some great strategy to get ahead of it or is he freelancing? Does he think that this is going to help politically? It certainly doesn't feel as if it's going to help legally.
BLITZER: Let me ask Jeffrey. Why is he doing it?
TOOBIN: Why is he doing it? Because I think he feels it will help his client. They believe it on FOX News. I mean, you know, a lot of people are supporting what the president are doing here. You know, his base needs reasons, so he gives them reasons.
But the whole -- the argument -- you know, he says, "Well, giving -- paying money to Stormy Daniels was not a crime." Yes, it was. Yes, it was. It was an illegal campaign contribution. That's what -- that's what Michael Cohen just pleaded guilty to.
So just because Rudy Giuliani says it's not a crime doesn't make it not a crime.
But I think what he's doing -- why he's doing it is that he's giving reasons to his -- to you know, his amen choir at FOX News. And Sean Hannity repeats it, and 30 percent of the country believes it.
So I mean, I think there is a reason why he's saying it. It doesn't mean it's true or believable, but I think there's a reason.
SIDDIQUI: And one of the most revealing aspects of Rudy Giuliani's interview was in trying to cast Michael Cohen as a liar. He pointed to the fact that Cohen changed his story on multiple occasions.
And when George Stephanopoulos came back and said, "Well, the president has also changed his story multiple times," Rudy Giuliani said, "Well, he wasn't under oath," effectively saying that it doesn't really matter if the president may have lied to the American public, because he wasn't in a conversation with investigators.
But that's not how it works. Either the president is telling the truth or it not -- or he's not. And that speaks, once again, to the lack of confidence that the president's legal team has in their client.
GANGEL: We have a new bar here for when you have to tell the truth, and that seems to be only when you're under oath.
And let's go back to the reporting in Bob Woodward's book. His own lawyers were saying under no circumstances could he possibly sit down with Robert Mueller, because he would perjure himself.
BLITZER: Yes, Giuliani yesterday said "over my dead body" would he sit down and do an interview with the special counsel.
Everybody, stick around. Much more on the breaking news right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:57:53] BLITZER: Shimon Prokupecz is getting some breaking news for us.
Shimon, what are you learning?
PROKUPECZ: Wolf, so we've been waiting for this pretty much for the last hour. So, it is the 302, what's called the 302. This is in relation to Michael Flynn. A judge within the last hour ordered the special counsel to release the interview, the documents, the notes from the FBI, the agents that interviewed Michael Flynn.
Remember, it was last week on Friday when some of the information was put out. But today, the judge ordered the actual notes from Michael Flynn's interview with the FBI agents that took place at the White House be released, and within the last few minutes, they went ahead and released it.
And what we're seeing here from basically the few pages that I've read so far, is that the FBI was asking him about his trip to Russia. Remember, he was at that RT dinner that Michael Flynn attended. They go into detail about his relationship with the Russians. It is a pretty lengthy interview. Some of it is redacted, but, Wolf, we are still going through it.
But it seems like when the FBI went in, they wanted a whole picture, for Michael Flynn to paint for them of his interactions with the Russians, of his relationship with Russians, and it seems based on what I have read so far here, that's exactly what the former national security adviser who set to be in court tomorrow to face hi sentence gave them and we're continuing to read it. But it's pretty lengthy here, Wolf.
There's a lot of detail here about his conversations. So we're going to go ahead and finish reading that and hopefully have some more information for you.
BLITZER: Yes, I just got a copy myself, Shimon, and I'm just looking through it.
Let me bring Phil Mudd into this. He used to read these 302s.
PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Can I have it now, please?
BLITZER: You can have it. A big chunk of it, take a look at this, you can see, you know, there's some serious redactions in this FBI report. But potentially what will you be looking for when I give you a copy of this, Phil, and I let you read it.
MUDD: You're going to give me that copy as soon as we go off air. There's two things I'm looking for here. One is tone.
[18:50:00] Flynn has suggested that he felt on edge, that he felt pressured by FBI agents. The FBI agent 302s, that is the document that reflects the conversation they had with Flynn should give us a picture of how tense that interview was, are there jokes in there that shouldn't be redacted? Is there a sense there's a cooperative interview in there?
Remember, he didn't have to do it. It's a voluntary interview. So, the first is tone.
The second T I'm looking for is truth. Typically, when you're going into this interview, you're going to give Flynn a chance to speak what about as Shimon was saying, what about your relationship with Russia, what about your trips? The FBI's going to know the answer. If they ask that question and Flynn doesn't give them full truth up front, they already know the answer to the biggest question they have, is he coming clean or not? That should be in that document.
BLITZER: They don't record this kind of conversation, it's all just notes, right? MUDD: That changed since I left there. There's a debate about
whether to record them or not. I don't know if this would have been recorded.
BLITZER: Let me go back to Shimon.
Shimon, you're going through this report -- all right, actually, Jim Sciutto is going through this report as well.
Jim, what are you learning?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Listen, as you're seeing there, Wolf. This is news as it happens, it's a fascinating report, right, because here is Michael Flynn giving details on issues and questions that he had not before, but here's one that struck me, because remember, what he lied about were his conversations with the Russian ambassador at the time, Sergei Kislyak, specifically conversations about sanctions imposed by the Obama administration, were there discussions by the incoming Trump administration as to somehow lessening those sanctions or removing those sanctions.
Just reading the section here, the interviewing agents asked Flynn if he had any other text, e-mail or personal meetings with Kislyak or other Russians. Flynn volunteered that after the election, he had a closed door meeting with Kislyak. I don't believe we knew this before, the whole next section after that is blacked out. You redact these documents, because there's information in there that is sensitive, that blacked out section follows immediately a reference to a closed door meeting with the Russian ambassador there.
You know, the point being that there was more than one conversation during that transition period. And again, that is something that not only of interest to the investigators because Flynn lied about those conversations, that's a reason that he's been charged with -- he pleaded guilty to a federal crime. But it is also one of the lines of inquiry we know of the special counsel.
What were the subjects of those conversations, why did he lie? And these redactions here may very well reference information gleaned from Flynn that is now subject to the special counsel's investigation. Again, we're reading through, but that one stuck out to me right away, it gets right to the core of the conversations that have been at the center of the investigation regarding Flynn, for Mueller's perspective.
BLITZER: Details, I'm just going through it together with all of you. Details, phone conversations that Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser had with Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States. He was on vacation around Christmas 2016, Jeffrey, and he got a call from Kislyak, he hadn't been checking his texts, so it took him about 24 hours to respond, then they immediately started to respond.
Very detailed conversations, Jeffrey. What are you going to be looking for? JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, I'm going to be
looking for the fact that he lied, I mean, he plead guilty to lying to the FBI in this conversation. I mean, that's what makes this significant. And the idea that the national security adviser to the president of the United States, one of the handful of most important people in the whole country, was somehow intimidated or scared or misled by FBI agents -- I mean, I think that's a pretty tough argument to make.
And Flynn has sort of raised that argument in advance of sentencing, of all people, he should be in a position to tell the truth. I mean, he's not some kid who was just arrested by the FBI and caught in an embarrassing situation, this is the national security adviser to the president. So if he lied, it's no wonder Mueller's office forced him to plead guilty, because people in that position of all people, should not be lying to the FBI in the White House, no less.
BLITZER: The former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, 33 years in the U.S. military.
Shimon, you're going through the document, what else are you picking up?
PROKUPECZ: Yes. So, you know, here's one of the key issues here, how they describe some of the answers that Michael Flynn gave to his conversation with the former Russian ambassador, they say that the agent's asked Flynn if he recalled any conversation with Kislyak in which the expulsions were discussed where Flynn may have encouraged Kislyak not to escalate the situation, to keep the Russian response reciprocal or not to engage in a tit for tat. And Flynn responded, not really, I don't remember. And then they say that Flynn says it wasn't, don't do anything.
The U.S. government's response was a total surprise Flynn told the FBI agents. Of course, he's referring to the then-Obama administration's response.
And, obviously, this goes to the heart of the issue with Michael Flynn saying, he didn't recall having this conversation. And remember, its transcripts which painted a completely different picture of the conversations that Michael Flynn had with the Russian ambassador for issues that he's now been charged with, and is going to be sentenced tomorrow. The other thing I want to point out is that this is so rare to get these kinds of documents, certainly so early in an investigation and why the Flynn investigation is over, it's very rare that the FBI releases these kinds of documents so quickly after this investigation, especially something that's ongoing.
And what we're getting is really a picture, kind of what was going on at the time of this interview, we've got some other documents, but certainly this tells you directly what came from Michael Flynn's mouth that day the FBI agents interviewed him at the White House.
BLITZER: Yes, remember, it was January 24th, 2017, four days after President Trump was sworn in, inaugurated to the president of the United States. Flynn was his national security adviser. Jim Sciutto, you're going through the document as well, let's remember once again, Flynn is a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Wouldn't he have expected or known his government was recording his conversations with Kislyak?
SCIUTTO: Well, it's almost funny, there are a couple references in here where Flynn said he appreciated the interviewing agents, reminding him that he had another conversation with Kislyak. So, you had the agents coming in, and, you know, effectively saying, you talked to Kislyak on this day about this issue. Shimon just, you know, mentioned one there, which is the issue of the expulsion of diplomats in response to Russian election meddling.
And then they said, did you talk to them again? Flynn might say no. Well, actually, they seem to have indicated that information with another conversation. And then Michael Flynn there saying, oh, well, thanks very much for reminding me of that conversation I seem to have forgotten about them.
So, there's some interesting back and forth there. Another issue, so they drilled down a bit on whether Flynn had a conversation what Shimon said, about the expulsion of agents. Did he, for instance, offer to the Russians to say, hey, there's a new sheriff in town? You don't have to worry about. They also asked him because there was a key vote at the U.N. at the time.
You might remember, renouncing Israel for settlement building pursued by the Obama administration, opposed by the incoming Trump administration, and the FBI agents asked him, when he was asking the Russian ambassador, was he asking Russia to vote against it for instance? Was he seeking the possibility of a quid pro quo? Was he asking a favor?
And Flynn said, no, he was basically just doing a vote count to see how these nations would vote there. But you get a sense of what those FBI agents were drilling down on. OK, you were talking to the Russian ambassador, you were doing more so than you admitted, so what was the subject of those conversations? Was there any exchange offered between the Trump administration and the Kremlin during that transition period?
It's a fascinating read as we go through.
BLITZER: And, Phil Mudd, if you go through it, five single space pages, some of it redacted, blacked out, but the detail is pretty extraordinary.
MUDD: There's only one detail to look at, if it's Friday night and you want to have a movie party or a national security party, I suggest a national security party. Let me give you one thing to look for. Flynn was fired. He was fired because he lied to the vice president, presumably because he said he didn't have national security conversations with the Russians during the interim period before the president took office.
Look for one thing in this document. How many times does the FBI give him a chance to say I had sensitive conversations? I lost track every single time. He says no. That's why he got charged.
BLITZER: He got charged also, Jeffrey Toobin, because he admits -- he pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, which is a crime.
TOOBIN: As Phil points out, it wasn't just one lie. I mean, he pled guilty to one count but it was repeated lies. It's not some accident slip of the tongue. He consistently lied about his dealings with the Russian ambassador, and yet raises the question as we have heard so many times, why? What is it about the Trump campaign and the Trump administration that can never tell the truth about its dealings with Russia?
That's why there's a criminal investigation going on here, because that question what is the true nature between the Trump campaign and Russia has never been answered. Perhaps Robert Mueller will answer it.
BLITZER: Yes, I recommend to our viewers. If you have a chance, read this document, go online. Get a copy of it. It's highly extraordinary that they release a document like this. Remember, Flynn will be sentenced tomorrow. We'll get more information clearly as the day goes on.
Thank you very much for watching.
ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT starts right now.
