Trump Asked to deny Evidence
BERMAN: All right, happening now on Capitol Hill, the director of National Intelligence is testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. According to multiple officials, he is one of two top intelligence officials that the president, President Trump, asked them to publically deny that there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government during the 2016 election.</s>HARLOW: All right, joining us now as we wait to hear from Director Coats, who's going to be asked about this, no question.</s>BERMAN: Yes.</s>HARLOW: After what we're told is pretty short opening remarks, so stay with us for that. With us now is CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, also a staff writer for "The New Yorker," and our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr. Jeffrey to you. A former senior intelligence official puts it this way to "The Washington Post." "The problem wasn't so much asking them to issue statements, it was asking them to issue false statements in an ongoing investigation." These are two of his handpicked guys. He goes to them and says basically, even though the White House isn't commenting, our reporting is, help me out here. This isn't the case. You know it. Go out in public and say it. Anything illegal about that?</s>JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Potentially. I mean it's potentially part of an obstruction of justice process that you could argue that the president was engaged in. This is what Robert Mueller will be investigating. When you --</s>HARLOW: So they would point to intent?</s>TOOBIN: Well, it's also just asking people to say something false for your legal benefit. I mean that is part of obstruction of justice, potentially. I mean, you know, you have to get what the facts were --</s>HARLOW: Right.</s>TOOBIN: What people actually said, not, you know, newspaper reports about it. But when you combine these comments with firing Director Comey, with his statement -- the president's statements to the Russians about why he fired Director Comey, it all adds up --</s>HARLOW: Pattern.</s>TOOBIN: To a possible pattern of obstruction of justice, certainly something worth investigating.</s>BERMAN: Let me ask you this, can it still be obstruction of justice if the president is right, that there's absolutely no evidence --</s>HARLOW: That's a good point because it's an ongoing -- yes.</s>BERMAN: Of collusion between his campaign? If there was nothing there, and he knows it, is it obstruction of justice to say, you know, say something out loud?</s>TOOBIN: It can be. It can be. You don't have to succeed in obstructing justice to commit obstructing justice. I mean just the -- all -- the federal statutes, Title 18, Section 1503 says to attempt to obstruct justice is a crime as well as actually obstructing justice.</s>BERMAN: Even an investigation that might ultimately exonerate you?</s>TOOBIN: Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean it makes sense when you think about it. I mean if you lie in the course of an FBI investigation, but the underlying crime that the FBI is investigating, you're either innocent of or never charged with, you could still be prosecuted for it. And that happens actually with some frequency.</s>HARLOW: Barbara Starr, there's an important twist to this all, and that is the fact that outside of DNI Coats, the other person that he asked is NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers, and he is an active duty military officer. Does that take this to another level?</s>BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I think many people think that is exactly what's happening. If you're in the United States military, you do not engage in politics. That's just really a fundamental tenant. The U.S. military is here. It's legitimacy derives from the fact it's here for the defense of the country, not to engage in the political agenda of elected officials. So if this, in fact, happened precisely as is being laid out now, it begins to really question whether the president fully understands the basic underlying tenant of the United States military that they don't engage in politics. Admiral Rogers, by all accounts, declined the request. That's exactly what you would expect a serving U.S. military officer to do. But was this framed as an order? Did he have to deny the president an order? Was it a casual request? All these things remaining to be sorted out. But, again, this really goes, I think, both for Admiral Rogers, the U.S. military and even the intelligence community. These organizations really do derive their legitimacy from the fact that the public can believe they are there for the public good to carry out the defense of the country. When we have heard about politicization of intelligence over the years, and of the U.S. military, generally that leads to nothing but trouble. So this is a very concerning development. I talked to a number of officials this morning. The reaction I'm getting so far is really a big sigh and slumped shoulders. Sort of, what's next. John and Poppy.</s>HARLOW: Wow.</s>BERMAN: All right, Barbara Starr, Jeffrey Toobin, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it. We do have some breaking news. Former James Bond, Sir Roger Moore, has passed away. That's according to statements from his family posted to his official Twitter feed. He died after a battle with cancer. He was James Bond for much of the '70s and early '80s, "Moonraker," "For Your Eyes Only," "The Man with the Golden Gun," A View to a Kill." All the way into the '80s as well. Roger Moore was 89.