[Keilar:] No punching back 10 times harder, no Twitter attack, no name calling. Publicly, President Trump is staying uncharacteristically silent about porn star, Stormy Daniels, despite her jaw-dropping interview with Anderson Cooper on "60 Minutes," when she told the world in detail about unprotected sex that she says she had with Trump, which the White House continues to deny. I want to go to CNN White House reporter, Kaitlan Collins, for details on this. Kaitlan, the president reportedly was among the nearly 22 million Americans who were watching this CBS News interview. What are you learning?
[Kaitlan Collins, Cnn White House Reporter:] Brianna, the White House alluded to as much yesterday when they said they couldn't say if the president watched the interview, but later said the claims Stormy Daniels made in the interview were inaccurate. But the president has not commented on this publicly. It's been noteworthy for a president who doesn't ignore the smallest slight. But he certainly isn't ignoring this privately because we know that he's been polling his advisers, allies, whether or not he should respond publicly to these allegations. So far, they have advised him against that. It is unclear how long he will heed that advice. We know he's complained about what he says is the wall-to-wall coverage of the allegations on cable news. And that his friend, Chris Ruddy, said it was a hoax, and he believed it was meant to damage him politically. And now "The Washington Post" is reporting that the president has even gone as far as to tell people that Stormy Daniels is not his type here, Brianna. But back to whether or not he's going to publicly comment on this, it is hard to see just how much longer that lasts. People close to the president say they do not believe he'll be able to exercise that restraint much longer. Of course, Stormy Daniels' lawyer has been taunting the president, doing all these interviews. Stormy Daniels herself appearing on television, the president's favorite medium. Now the question is, Brianna, just how long does it take the president to actually come out and say something about these allegations.
[Keilar:] We saw a little crack. He said fake news was very I think he said voluminous yesterday in a tweet. We know what he was probably talking about there. I want to ask you about something else, Kaitlan, and that is Rob Porter, the president's former aide, who left the White House after being accused of abusing, both physically and emotionally, his first wife as well as his second wife, we saw the alarming photos. Apparently, he's in touch with Rob Porter?
[Collins:] That's right. "The New York Times" is reporting the president has not only stayed in touch with Rob Porter, asking his advice on some issues, but has also floated the idea of having him return to the West Wing. Now, it is not that surprising that the president kept in touch with Porter. It is a little bit stunning, given the allegations made against Porter and the nasty departure that he had here from the White House, very frustrating, not only because of those very serious allegations but also because the president believed that that departure was botched here by aides in the White House, including the Chief of Staff John Kelly. But the president has stayed in touch with him. He does this with people who leave the West Wing or his orbit. They don't often leave for very long. And we're seeing that here with Rob Porter. The thing you have to keep in mind is the context here. This is coming as the president's inner circle here in the West Wing has continued to shrink over the recent weeks. Not only the departure of Rob Porter, but Hope Hicks, Keith Schiller, Johnny McEntee, several aides close to the president as well. But a word of caution. Aides in the White House do not think it is likely that Rob Porter will return, given the seriousness of the allegations made against him. But it does go to show just how close he and the president were here Brianna?
[Keilar:] Kaitlan Collins, at the White House, thank you. I want to turn to the latest legal maneuver in the Stormy Daniels saga. The porn star is suing President Trump's long-time lawyer, Michael Cohen, for defamation. CNN's M.J. Lee is joining us now on this story. What is the defamation suit all about, M.J.?
[M.j. Lee, Reporter:] Brianna, what Stormy Daniels is doing right now is staying on offense. As you know, she already had launched a lawsuit against Donald Trump earlier this month. And that lawsuit had to do with trying to get out of this NDA, make that void so she can speak out freely about her alleged affair with Donald Trump in 2006. Now that lawsuit has been amended to include Michael Cohen, Cohen. Cohen, of course, is Donald Trump's personal lawyer, who was responsible for making that $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016 to keep her quiet and to keep her from speaking about this affair. Now, what this lawsuit now says is that Cohen is being accused of defamation. What Stormy Daniels is saying is he is essentially calling her a liar even though he's not directly saying that. Here is Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels' lawyer, talking about all of this on "A.C. 360" last night.
[Michael Avenatti, Attorney For Stormy Daniels:] Mainly, he made statements earlier this year, whereby, he basically said that the affair never happened, in not so many words, and made my client out to be a liar. So we're going to test the voracity of his statements against those of my client.
[Lee:] I also want to quickly note, you remember in the "60 Minutes" interview on Sunday, Stormy Daniels said that she was threatened in a Las Vegas parking lot in 2011, and this had to do with her being quiet about the Donald Trump affair. Well, Michael Avenatti is saying, since that interview aired, they have several new leads on who was responsible. He says that it wasn't directly Michael Cohen or Keith Schiller, Donald Trump's bodyguard, but the question remains, are they going to be able to produce that kind of evidence. The hearing for this lawsuit is set for July of this year.
[Keilar:] Stormy Daniels hinted at that in the interview. She said she would be able to identify that person again. We will see. M.J. Lee, thank you. Still ahead, critics pushing back on the Trump administration just hours after a controversial citizenship question is added to the 2020 census, whether you're a citizen or not. Why it matters to you, next.