[Cabrera:] For the first time, an American admits he helped foreigners funnel money to President Trump's inauguration. Longtime lobbyist Samuel Patten in court pleading guilty yesterday to failing to register as a foreign agent. Patten revealed he helped a Russian and a Ukrainian illegally purchase tickets to the January 2017 inauguration. Patten has ties to a Russian associate of President Trump's former campaign Chairman Paul Manafort. And he has agreed to cooperate with special counsel Robert Mueller. The president's attorney calls the indictment irrelevant.
[Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump's Attorney:] What does this have to do with President Trump? Not a single thing. It has nothing to do with collusion. Some guy who donated to the inauguration. My goodness. There are 500,000 people that donated to President Trump.
[Cabrera:] Joining us now prosecutor turned defense attorney Randy Zelin. Randy you are kind of laughing as you listen to Giuliani. Is this guilty plea irrelevant?
[Randy Zelin, Defense Attorney:] Nothing is irrelevant. And the fact that the former mayor and counsel to the president is saying that it's irrelevant reminds me of the old maxim doth protest too much. I wonder of those 500,000 people who donated how many of them were Russian?
[Cabrera:] That's the question we want to know, too. And this is obviously one person now who we have learned, which is why this is a big deal because this is the first time we actually see Russian money or in foreign influence, he also worked with Ukrainians, going directly to President Trump.
[Zelin:] We have a lot of firsts. And what happens over time, those firsts, they build, and they build, and they build, and they build like building blocks. And suddenly you get to the top of the first.
[Cabrera:] Well, we have George Papadopoulos, who is also part of the president's team revealing more in a recent court filing, this is according to some documents just last night. According to George Papadopoulos's defense team, "Papadopoulos told investigators that when he pitched the idea during the campaign of a meeting between President Trump or then candidate Trump and Putin, Trump nodded in approval. And Attorney General Jeff Sessions seemed to like the idea." Now, if there was never a meeting, Randy, does it matter, this conversation, and how it exactly went down? What do investigators do with this?
[Zelin:] Nothing in a vacuum seems to matter. But remember something put it in context. As I understand the swirl of evidence out there, Attorney General Sessions has gone before Congress and denied exactly what Mr. Papadopoulos said just took place. So it puts Attorney General Sessions in some potential jeopardy. It's yet another story that rings hollow. It's yet another piece of the puzzle that, again, you look piece in a vacuum, what the hell does it mean? But when you have it all kind of laid out there on the table and you start clicking them together, this is yet something else where we left we are left as citizens saying, my God, is it really possible.
[Cabrera:] In the mean, we have the president continuing to attack the investigation. This week he called it illegal in an interview with Bloomberg. He also went to rally. He threatened to get involved. In the meantime, let's take a look at the bigger picture. We have the special counsel investigation securing more than 191 criminal charges against 35 people and entities. Six of those people have now pleaded guilty. One, Paul Manafort was found guilty. On top of that, four separate federal judges have upheld Mueller's appointment and constitutional authority. Randy, do innocent people try to shut down probe that are securing convictions and guilty pleas if in the end they will not be convicted because they are completely innocent?
[Zelin:] That is an extraordinary question, because the flipside of that question that you hear most of the time is the opposite, which is, don't innocent people speak up? Don't innocent people protest? The accusations? And of course as a defense attorney, I remind everyone, the smartest thing you can do as an innocent person is keep your mouth shut. And what's happening here is that the president is teaching us that I'm right. Imagine, if you will and your viewers imagine for a moment if the president never tweeted, if the president never spoke and simply carried on the business of being the president, let the investigation do its thing, let White House counsel and everybody else surrounding him, his experts, do their thing and simply focused in on running the country and maybe saying a kind word about Senator McCain. Imagine how different all of this would feel. So I would respectfully submit to you, it's really the opposite. You almost can't win when you are innocent. Do you open your mouth and run the risk of getting jammed up because you are always one word away from saying the wrong thing? Or do you keep your mouth shut in which case people say, well, wait a minute, if you didn't do anything wrong, why not say so. I will always opt for the latter.
[Cabrera:] There is always the question about whether or not the president ends up being implicated in a crime, whether Robert Mueller would be able to act on that. Instead, the typical route would be to go to Congress and they could impeach. The president talking about impeachment this week. Saying he thinks it would be impossible to impeach a popular president. And it's not the first time he mentioned the "I" word. Reportedly he refers to it behind closed doors often. Let's listen.
[Donald Trump, President Of The United States:] I'll tell you what, if I ever got impeached, I think the market would crash. I think everybody would be very poor because without this thinking, you would see you would see numbers that you wouldn't believe. In reverse.
[Cabrera:] Does his making such a case indicate he fears this is getting closer?
[Zelin:] I don't think so. I think our president is one of the more difficult people to read. And I guess he likes it that way. It is interesting to note, though, what he focuses in on in terms of almost justifying why it would be ludicrous to go after him. Saying the markets would crash is really not responsive to the question of, what do we do with you? The real response to the question is what do you do with me? I haven't done anything wrong. What do you do with me? Let me do my job. What do you do with me? Nothing, because all I'm trying to do is run the office of the presidency the best way I can. And I haven't done anything wrong. And to answer the president's question or the statement of the investigation is illegal, I simply put two questions out there. And I would hope that someone would answer it. If the Mueller investigation is illegal, please tell us two things. How? And why?
[Cabrera:] And again I go back to it's been asked. That question has been asked and it's been answered by four separate judges. Two of them appointed by Republicans.
[Zelin:] One of the things we do as a lawyer, objection. Asked and answered.
[Cabrera:] Exactly. Randy Zelin, always good to have you with us. Thank you.
[Zelin:] Thank you.
[Cabrera:] Now the president tests out a tactic in the Russia probe, insisting that what he said on camera about the firing of James Comey isn't real. We've got the tape for you next. Live in the CNN NEWSROOM.