[Anderson Cooper, Cnn:] Stephanie Grisham can say whatever she wants from her perch on "Fox & Friends." But you know what? When she finally exits the stage, as all the President's people seem to do, whether they want to or not, let's see whether the President is in a tizzy or not when he delivers her review on the "Ridiculist." What will he say? The news continues. Want to hand it over to Chris for CUOMO PRIME TIME. Chris?
[Chris Cuomo, Cnn:] I have to tell you, as a student of Cooperology, it is hard to know from your sheer visage when you're in a tizzy and when you are not.
[Cooper:] Well I it's because I push my emotions deep down inside. So
[Cuomo:] I like that. I have no emotions.
[Cooper:] Oh, even better.
[Cuomo:] But if I did, I'd push them down also.
[Cooper:] I long to be you.
[Cuomo:] Anderson, have a great weekend, my brother. Thank you for the good work.
[Cooper:] All right, bye.
[Cuomo:] I am Chris Cuomo. Welcome to PRIME TIME. Breaking news. New evidence of the depth of the efforts by this President to go after the Bidens, a CNN exclusive, and key players making the case, and trying to defend on the show tonight. Where do you stand? Let's get after it.
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[Cuomo:] All right, so here is the latest. The President's personal lawyer pushed the State Department and the White House to get a visa for the ousted Ukrainian Prosecutor, who promised dirt on the Bidens. This comes in a CNN exclusive, from four sources, citing the testimony of Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, George Kent, this week, to Congress. They tell us that, in January 2019, Rudy Giuliani tried to secure a U.S. visa for Ukrainian Viktor Shokin. You've heard that name a lot now. He was forced to resign in 2016, with the help of the United States, for failing to root out corruption. Now, as if the plot were not already painfully clear, President Trump's Acting Chief of Staff admitted to a quid pro quo, and then POTUS and company had him deny it. So, we know what happened. The question is what does it mean? Where do things stand? Let's ask a possible future juror, and top Democrat, Senate Judiciary Member, Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut. Always good to see you, senior Senator.
[Sen. Richard Blumenthal:] Good to see you.
[Cuomo:] Thank you for joining us, especially on a Friday night.
[Blumenthal:] Thank you.
[Cuomo:] So, we know what happened. It is inarguably wrong for a number of reasons. You can argue that it is abuse of power. But do you believe that you have reached a point with all that you have seen, to this point, that this is worthy of articles of impeachment and removal?
[Blumenthal:] It is unquestionably worthy of moving forward with impeachment proceedings, as the House is doing. It is unquestionably an abuse of power by the president of the United States, a betrayal of his oath of office. Let's remember, the commander in chief on that July 25th phone call is pressuring, indeed extorting a foreign leader to interfere in our elections, to try to sway our democratic process, and compromise our democracy. For the commander in chief to undertake that role, and then to engage his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, and the Shokin efforts, and other efforts abroad, and as well as other members of his Administration, is absolutely an abuse of power.
[Cuomo:] So, a reasonable Republican is sitting next to you in the Senate. And they say, "Senator Senator, I hear you. It was bad. He shouldn't have done it. It's wrong. And I don't like that he they denied it. And I don't like a lot of things about it. But to nullify an election, the Founding Fathers wanted this to be such an overwhelming and flagrant wrong that two out of three of us saw it the same way. And I don't think it's worth nullifying an election with an election right around the corner. It was bad. But, you know, Ukraine's OK. We didn't compromise their efforts versus Russia. In fact, we gave them arms that we haven't even given them in the last administration. And they got the aid. And we've exposed this for what it is. That's enough for me. What do you say?
[Blumenthal:] I say it's not nullifying an election. It's removing from power someone who has abused that power, in fact, violated the Constitution. That's the reason that the Founders had the impeachment process because they wanted to protect our Republic. Remember, Benjamin Franklin Franklin's admonition. It's a democracy or republic if you can keep it. And the only way for us to discharge our obligation, as senators, is to protect our democracy against that kind of abuse of power. And again, it's the president's own words, Chris, in that July 25th conversation, "Do us a favor." He wasn't talking about a quid pro quo to benefit the United States of America. It was to benefit him personally, his political position. And what we're seeing more and more, of course, is that he wants favors from foreign leaders, to benefit his personal financial situation.
[Cuomo:] So, now we're at the end of the week. That's the state of play with the President. With his attorney, what do you think the likelihood is that Rudy Giuliani gets indicted?
[Blumenthal:] Well there is mounting evidence. And I'm obviously not in the prosecutor line of work, which I was once.
[Cuomo:] But you did these cases.
[Blumenthal:] I did these kinds of cases, not exactly prosecuting a President's personal lawyer. But what we're seeing here is potential conspiracy, to solicit, and pressure a foreign leader, to provide political campaign help, that's a violation of federal law, lying to the federal government, tax or bank fraud violations.
[Cuomo:] You worried about the money coming in and out from these two who were indicted and the other names that are getting listed?
[Blumenthal:] Exactly right. The associates, they are Giuliani associates who have been indicted and charged, certainly could be involved in a conspiracy, involving Giuliani and others in the Trump Administration. Remember, in Watergate, Nixon was pardoned. But the president's men went to jail. And my guess is that we're going to be seeing cracks in that wall, in so far impenetrable wall.
[Cuomo:] What would you do, if the president came out tomorrow, and said, you know, I don't like the way this is going. I pardon Rudy Giuliani right now for anything that he did in connection to what I did in Ukraine, anything to do with Turkey, even the bird, even around Thanksgiving. You cannot go after Rudy Giuliani for anything. There's a chance that could happen.
[Blumenthal:] It would spark an uproar, a an outrage. And I believe, talking about sitting next to a reasonable Republican that my colleagues on the Republican side, at some point, are going to have to look to history. They will be haunted by this era, if they feel if they fail to do the right thing. And clearly, the right thing would be to stop a pardon. President has very broad power. But Congress has some power to override it. And certainly, the President has no power to pardon for a state crime
[Cuomo:] Right.
[Blumenthal:] which then there could be a prosecution to do. And finally, I would say that kind of pardon itself might be an impeachable offense, and my Republican colleagues are going to have to regard this time in history as one that will follow them throughout their lives and through history beyond it.
[Cuomo:] You know one simple problem I haven't heard discussed yet is that Mr. Giuliani says that he represents the President pro bono. If that's true, and we have no reason to believe that it isn't, I haven't seen any proof otherwise, is a president or any official allowed to accept that kind of dollar value in pro bono service work from an attorney? And I've been looking through the law. And you guys have all these rules in Congress about it having to be for a committee and a specific purpose and a specific amount. Unless you accept the argument that Mr. Giuliani's legal advice is worth zero, this is hundreds of thousands of things wouldn't of of value. Wouldn't it have had to have been recorded?
[Blumenthal:] Well some might question whether Rudy Giuliani's legal advice, at this point, is worth what others might regard. But the point is that those services, if they are a gift, or if they are an exchange for something, could well be a violation of law.
[Cuomo:] You want to add using Doral for the G7 to your emoluments suit. The President's proxy, his acting chief of staff says, he's not going to make any money off it. It is the best place for it, so there is no issue.
[Blumenthal:] Our emoluments lawsuit says that the President repeatedly and consistently, throughout his term of office, has accepted payments, and benefits, from foreign governments, in violation of the premier anti-corruption clause in the United States Constitution. The reason for that clause, as you know, is that one of the Founding fears Father's greatest fears was in fact that the President or some other member of the Executive Branch would be beholden, would take favors from a foreign government, and here is a classic textbook example of the violation of that emoluments clause. So, we are definitely going to add it in our brief to be submitted this coming week. But even if there's no profit, there's clearly a payment or benefit, because at that time of year, as you heard earlier, during Anderson Cooper's show, the Doral probably is going to be largely deserted. The profits or financial situation of that hotel have declined sharply, as the Washington Post recently reported, by 70 percent. And even if there is no payment, and there will be payment, there is benefit in terms of the promotion of the property, and that is of inestimable value. Think of the the impact of having that brand shown all over the world, literally, all over the world, and, in effect, a an advertisement, unpaid for by any Trump entity, but of tremendous benefit to the Trump Organization, which this President still owns. He's never divested a single cent worth of that property.
[Cuomo:] Some heady efforts to come. Senator Blumenthal, thank you so much for joining us.
[Blumenthal:] Thank you.
[Cuomo:] Always a pleasure to have you on the show.
[Blumenthal:] Thank you.
[Cuomo:] Have a good weekend, Sir.
[Blumenthal:] You too. Thank you.
[Cuomo:] Appreciate it. All right, when not crying there was no quid pro quo, Trump defenders make a couple of arguments to defend the situation. And I argue they defy the facts, so let's do this. Let's lie out lay out that was not a Freudian slip. Let's lay out what they say and what the facts tell us right after this.
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