Cohen To Stormy Daniels; Papadopoulos Gets 14 Days.
HILL: People close to the president say that he is obsessed. That's their word. Obsessed with finding out who wrote that opinion piece in "The New York Times" this week. Whomever is behind it, that person is described as a senior official in the administration. And there's no more mysterious whodunit this weekend than that author's identity. Nearly 30 people, all senior officials, have publicly declared, it wasn't me. Even the vice president came out to deny it. President Trump telling supporters, aboard Air Force One, he has a good idea of where the person works.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think Jeff Sessions should be investigating who the author of the op-ed piece was?</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think so because I think it's national security. I would say Jeff should be investigating the author of that piece. Because I really believe it is national security.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And is there action that should be taken against "The New York Times"?</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to see. I am looking into that right now.</s>HILL: CNN's Ryan Nobles is at the White House today. Ryan, I just want to point out a tweet from our colleague, Ana Navarro, who writes, the vice president had to put out a statement saying he was not the author of an op-ed about the president of the United States behaving like a mentally unstable toddler. In her words, this is not normal. How are things feelings in that building behind you this weekend? Business as usual? Normal?</s>RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Erica, it's actually been relatively quiet at the White House this weekend, which that is abnormal for this administration. But we know that the president is stewing inside, angrily trying to figure out exactly who is the author of this op-ed. We're told that the White House has a sense that they've got it narrowed down to a small number of individuals who they think are or maybe could be responsible. Now, we don't know who those individuals are, but we may have gotten some clue into their thinking, based on this interview that Kellyanne Conway did with Christiane Amanpour. Take a listen.</s>KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT: I'm not interested in the investigation. Those who are investigating, great. I really hope they find the person. I believe the person who suss himself or herself out, though, because that's usually what happens. People brag to the wrong person. They brag that they did this or they did that because they -- I assume part of this -- isn't the goal here not what the op-ed portends the goal is, Christiane. Isn't the goal here really to try to sew chaos and get us all suspicious of each other?</s>CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is that what's happening? Are you all getting suspicious of each other?</s>CONWAY: No, that isn't what happened.</s>NOBLES: And Kellyanne Conway went on to tell Christiane that she believes, likes the president, that it's someone from the national security apparatus. And also, that they don't believe this person actually works inside the White House. Now, that doesn't really narrow down the field all that much, Erica. There are thousands of people that fit that description. And we don't really know if the White House has any evidence that leads them to believe that this is the direction that they're going. We know the president is putting on the pressure. As you said, he is considering asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions who's outright asked him to launch an investigation. At this point, the Department of Justice has not commented on whether that's something they plan to do -- Erica.</s>HILL: And no word on whether anything is moving in that direction. Ryan, appreciate it. Thank you.</s>NOBLES: Thank you.</s>HILL: The president's former fixer, Michael Cohen, wants his hush money back from porn star Stormy Daniels. He wants all $130,000, and he wants it now. Cohen, in fact, wants to rip up his original pre-election deal with Daniels, and he wants it voided permanently. He wants to rescind the agreement. Remember, he had paid Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence over her claims of an alleged affair with Trump years ago. Well, her attorney, Michael Avenatti, says Cohen's move is just an attempt to keep him from deposing President Trump.</s>MICHAEL AVENATTI, ATTORNEY: It's pretty transparent, at least at first blush to me. What they're trying to do is they don't want me to get a chance to depose Michael Cohen and Donald Trump. And this is a hail Mary to try to avoid that.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the chance Cohen gets his money back?</s>AVENATTI: Well, I mean, ultimately, if the agreement is rescinded, then the chance is 100 percent. He gets his $130,000 back. There's no question.</s>HILL: The White House has said President Trump denied any alleged affair with Stormy Daniels. Fourteen days, that is the prison sentence for former Trump campaign aide, George Papadopoulos. The crime, lying to FBI investigators about his contacts with Russian operatives before the 2016 election. The president, in response, tweeting, 14 days for $28 million, $2 million a day, no collusion, a great day for America. Just before his sentencing, Papadopoulos sat down with CNN's Jake Tapper. Talked about how he handled the Russian's operatives offer of dirt on Hillary Clinton.</s>GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISOR: So, I sat down and I looked at the candidates -- I looked at candidate Trump directly in his eyes and said, I can do this for you, if it's in your interest and if it's in the campaign's interest. And the collective energy in the loom room -- of course there were some dissenters. And -- but the collective energy in the room seemed to be interested.</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": The collective energy. Was Donald Trump interested?</s>PAPADOPOULOS: Well, he gave me sort of a nod. He wasn't committed either way. But -- so, it was -- I took it as he was thinking.</s>TAPPER: Senator Jeff Sessions was there, too, --</s>PAPADOPOULOS: Yes.</s>TAPPER: -- at the table. What was his response?</s>PAPADOPOULOS: My recollection was that the senator was actually enthusiastic about a meeting between the candidate and President Putin.</s>HILL: Michael Zeldin, former special assistance to Robert Mueller at the Justice Department, is with us now. So, Michael, first things first here. When we look at this, 14 days in prison for Papadopoulos. I mean, what does that tell us about what he may have told investigators? Because this is for lying. Fourteen days for lying.</s>MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's right. And, remember, the special counsel wanted a longer sentence. They didn't believe that Papadopoulos gave them all the type of information they were hoping to get from him. But the judge felt that Papadopoulos, who was at the time 28 years old, was remorseful. And that he understood the mistake he made and that 14 days was adequate. Now, listen, anyone who's ever been to a federal prison will not poopoo the notion of spending 14 days behind bars. It's a serious place to spend any amount of time. So, he's got 14 days in jail. A year's probation. Two hundred hours of community service. A$9,500 fine. You know, for a 28-year-old kid who made a mistake because he was, you know, sort of, enamored of the bright lights on a candidate who thought this was a witch hunt, probably fair enough.</s>HILL: So, you say it's fair enough. But, listen, we've already seen a reaction. We saw the reaction from the president and others who are saying, look, he's only getting 14 days. I mean, clearly, he didn't have anything good, if the sentence is that light. And Mueller's team was asking for far more. Is that -- I mean, can you make that connection?</s>ZELDIN: Well, I suppose you can say, if Mueller wanted more time, he felt that Papadopoulos didn't give them all that they thought he could give. And the big question was, and remains, did Papadopoulos tell the campaign about his contacts with operatives who claimed to have information about the Hillary Clinton e-mails? He says he doesn't remember that. I think that's the $64,000 question that's still outstanding. But, all in all, the judge credited that he was trying to be forthcoming and that the sentence of 14 days was appropriate. Remember, you put this against the attorney who got 30 days, that was a mature adult who was, as an attorney, lying. And this was a kid who made a mistake. And so, you know, my view of this, having been both a defense attorney and prosecutor is, fair enough. Let the kid move on with his life.</s>HILL: The president, once again on Friday, raising concerns about what he seems to think could be a perjury trap, in his words, if he were to sit down with Mueller. The president apparently so concerned that he may not be able to tell the truth. Although, listen, if you lie and you get 14 days, maybe there's nothing to worry about. I don't know. But, in all seriousness, as we look at this, do you think that an interview is, sort of, dead in the water, at this point?</s>ZELDIN: I don't think so. I believe that the real lawyers, working on behalf of the president, and that does not include Rudy Giuliani, are trying to work out an agreement, with Mueller which will start with written questions on collusion. And then, they'll see what happens with that. With respect to the obstruction questions. I think they are still trying to figure out a way to have that first be done in writing, and then determine whether or not oral questions are required. So, I think this is still a work in progress. I think we'll see more progress on it this coming week because it seems like the issue has been joined. And the Raskins and Flood, the real lawyers, are working closely with Quarles and Mueller to figure out what deal is doable.</s>HILL: Well, we'll be watching for that deal. Look, I want to get your take on something else. The government admitting now that it was wrong in claiming that the accused Russian spy, Maria Butina, had actually offered to trade sex for political access. Federal prosecutors saying they misunderstood some text messages there between Butina and her boyfriend. House significant is that error?</s>ZELDIN: Well, from her reputation standpoint, it's very significant. And I'm glad the government said, I'm sorry. We made a mistake. And that's not what she did. From the legal case of whether or not she did what she's accused of, I think that the sex aspect of it is not as significant.</s>HILL: Does it hurt at all, public opinion, when it comes to this? Because so much of what we're seeing in all of these cases, right. For many people, it's boiling down to public opinion, especially for things that we know nothing about. Like, for example, the investigation with the special counsel. So, how damaging is this headline, if at all?</s>ZELDIN: Well, I don't think it's all that damaging, in that the -- you know, sort of, the heart of this matter is her relationship with the National Rifle Association and the potential funneling of money into the NRA, an then into the Trump campaign. And I don't think, therefore, the did she trade sex for favors allegation is really all that germane to that more overarching support of NRA money and the Trump campaign and foreign nationals.</s>HILL: Michael Zeldin, always good to talk to you. Thank you.</s>ZELDIN: Thank you.</s>HILL: And you can catch Jake Tapper's full interview, with former Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos, tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here, only on CNN. In an unprecedented move, the New York attorney general opening an abuse investigation into every catholic archdiocese in the state. Sounds like a great headline. Is it too little too late? Up next, we will hear from a survivor. Stay with us. You're live in the CNN newsroom.