Former President George H.W. Bush Lying in State at U.S. Capitol; Court Documents Show Cohen Updated Trump on Moscow Deal.
VAUSE: The body of former U.S. president George H.W. Bush is lying in state in the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The Bush family accompanied the 41st president's casket on board the presidential plane, on a flight from Houston, Texas, on Monday. His son, the 43rd president, George W. Bush, will deliver a eulogy at a memorial service at the National Cathedral on Wednesday. President Donald Trump and former Presidents Obama, Clinton and Carter will also attend. The funeral will take place Thursday in Houston and the former president's body will be interred alongside his wife, Barbara, at his presidential library in College Station, Texas, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was among those paying tribute at the Capitol on Monday.</s>REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: Throughout his life of service, President Bush personified grace. His character, his character was second to none. He reached the heights of power with uncommon humility. He made monumental contributions to freedom with a fundamental decency that resonates across generations. No one better harmonized the joy of life and the duty of life.</s>VAUSE: The White House has confirmed Donald Trump will attend Wednesday's state funeral. He will be seated front row, alongside former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Former president George W. Bush --</s>VAUSE: -- will deliver a eulogy for his father. Given Trump's criticism of past presidents, that seating plan alone is likely to highlight his isolation. And then there will be the service itself. The tributes and memorials for George H.W. Bush have struck a starkly similar tone as those for Senator John McCain, who died three months ago. An outpouring of bipartisan praise, both men described as honorable, gracious, decent. Trump and McCain had publicly feuded for years. He wasn't invited to the senator's funeral, which became an extended comparison between a selfless war hero, dedicated to public service, and a man who avoided the Vietnam draft with four deferments of college and a fifth for bone spurs.</s>VAUSE: Well, there is similar bad blood between the Bush family and Donald Trump, the 41st president made clear he wanted the current U.S. president at his funeral. Placing the office of the presidency above any personal ill will. And while the service will try to steer clear of the anti-Trump turn on McCain's funeral, they will still be talk of sacrifice in service, of selflessness, a greater good. Intended or not, that praise alone is likely to sound like a criticism of Donald Trump. For more now, presidential historian, Mike Purdy, is with us from Seattle. Mike, thanks for taking the time to be with us.</s>MIKE PURDY, FOUNDER, PRESIDENTIALHISTORY.COM: Thank you.</s>VAUSE: This is President Donald Trump who likes praise, he likes being praised. I wonder if on Wednesday, after speaker to speak and remembers George W. Bush and his life of service at such glowing terms. Is it just possible that, maybe for a moment, the 45th president will stop and ask himself, "What will they say about me? What will my legacy be?"</s>PURDY: Well, I think we can hope that. Although personally, I would be pessimistic about it. I mean, I think President Trump at some point needs to begin to reflect on the fact of what life will be like when he does not control his Twitter narrative. And when history will be the judge of his deeds and he won't have control over it. He likes being the center of attention obviously. And so, that is going to be -- that's his challenge as president to rise to the occasion. He, of course, has a very difficult history with the presidents that he will be with. He called Barack Obama the worst president in the history of our country. Bill Clinton was the worst abuser of women in the history of our country. He criticized George H.W. Bush in his thousand points of light and said, "What does that mean anyway?" So, he's got a big history with these presidents and they have a history with him, as well, in terms of saying things about him. Obama said he was unfit to be President.</s>VAUSE: Yes.</s>PURDY: Clinton said he didn't know much.</s>VAUSE: You know,</s>GEORGE H.W.  BUSH, 41ST PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations. A new world order, a world for the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations.</s>VAUSE: You know, President Bush saw this world of shared responsibilities. Smaller states no longer at the mercy of stronger nations. I just wonder if over the weekend, do we see Donald Trump's vision of a new world order at the G20? You know, with that high-five handshake between -- you know, leaders of Russia and Saudi Arabia, two men with no regard for international norms or standards of international law. They act with impunity and they had the support of the current U.S. president.</s>PURDY: That's right. I think Donald Trump has totally blown up the presidency in terms of our relationships with other countries. Expected norms, collaboration, pulling out of trade agreements, pulling out of the purse -- a climate agreement. And I think President Trump's actions are because he always wants to be at the center of attention. And I think that's what is going to make this weekend -- this week a difficult one for the president because it won't be about him. And I wonder if we'll see some tweets coming out afterwards in anger. We'll have to see how that plays out.</s>VAUSE: Yes, this will be -- look, knowing this president as we know him now, this will obviously not be an easy time on Wednesday. But, especially if you listen to what's already being said -- you know, making this comparison between Donald Trump and George H.W. Bush. And President Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, she made that comparison during an interview on CNN just a few hours ago. Listen to part of it, here it is.</s>PATTI DAVIS, DAUGHTER OF RONALD REAGAN: The president is supposed to revere democracy and all of the institutions that hold it up. The president is supposed to work with our allies with diplomacy and respect. And at --</s>DAVIS: -- the same time, stand up to autocrats who murder people. The president is supposed to understand and adhere to the Constitution. The president is supposed to be a grown-up. You know, 9-year olds are should be able to look up to the President of the United States, not feel that he's one of them.</s>VAUSE: You know, I've just wanted Trump's bombastic divisive style and style of politics has that sort of embellished or -- you know improved, if you like, the legacies of past presidents? Because there's almost this longing for those days, whether or not they were real or imagined.</s>PURDY: You know, I think it has to some extent. I think we compare a president's who pass away to the current president. And we've got some pretty big extremes. I mean, George H.W. Bush is going to be remembered, I think for his basic sense of decency. For the fact that he was a civil man, he was a consensus builder, a collaborator, he knew how to compromise, if you look at -- you know, what he did in terms of developing the coalition for the Gulf War. So, Bush knew how to do that and Trump doesn't appear to have those skills. And so, yes, we compare them and we look at them quite differently.</s>VAUSE: Yes. They -- quite differently, too, if you look at the relationship between reporters and the presidency, "The New York Times" opinion writer, Maureen Dowd, had an anecdote from her time as a White House reporter, covering -- you know, the George H.W. Bush administration. There's this friendship, which, you know, I guess that not a lot of people knew about. It was -- she talked about how it developed over the years. Here's part of her column. "'Put it this way,' he wrote me once, 'I reserve the right to whine, to not read, to use profanity. But if you ever get really hurt or if you ever get really down and need a shoulder to cry on, or just need a friend, give me a call. I'll be there for you. I'll not let you down. "'Now, go on out and knock my knickers off. When you do, I might just cancel my subscription.'" You know, that's a very long way, but it's far away as you could possibly get from, you know, the enemy of the people.</s>PURDY: Right.</s>VAUSE: Has the coverage of the White House changed so much in those years? Or is it just that this president, the current occupant of the White House, is he just really thin-skinned compared to others?</s>PURDY: Well, I think, he is very thin-skinned. I think some of his actions and past actions, perhaps, have caused the press to be critical. And I think, rightly so, all presidents have challenges with the media because the media is there to hold government to account. And to the extent that a president is more out in left-field shall we say, then the media is going to be there. You can go back and look at Watergate and President Nixon. And they did a good job in terms of uncovering what was going on. But I think what that quote you read, you know, indicates is George H.W. Bush knew and understood and valued relationships. That was the key and he knew how to praise people. He was probably better as president behind the scenes. He wasn't a very good upfront sometimes. He struggled with what he called the vision thing. And he was more comfortable, I think, behind the scenes. But he was very effective at it because he knew how to build relationships.</s>VAUSE: Yes and of course, this is a moment for the nation to remember and obviously to take time to consider where it is -- you know, where -- and where it is being and where it is going. And these are all very difficult issues. But Mikey, thank you so much being with us. We appreciate it.</s>PURDY: Certainly, my pleasure. Thanks.</s>VAUSE: Donald Trump lashing out at his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who is cooperating with the Russia investigation. The president says he wants Cohen to be sent to prison for a full sentence, no special treatment. Sara Murray has more details.</s>SARA MURRAY, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With the Russia probe barreling closer to President Trump, he's taken to Twitter to rail against the investigation and his former attorney. After Michael Cohen's attorneys asked in a weekend filing that Cohen receive no prison time, Trump lashed out, tweeting, "You mean he can do all of the terrible, unrelated to Trump things having do with fraud, big loans, taxis, et cetera and not serve a long prison term? "He makes up stories to get a great and already reduced deal for himself. He lied for this outcome and should, in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence." The recent Cohen filings reflect not only on his actions but also on Trump's. Filings show how Cohen kept then candidate Trump in the loop about the potential Trump Tower Moscow project as late as June 2016. He and Trump also discussed possible travel to Russia in the --</s>MURRAY (voice-over): -- summer of 2016, a trip that would have taken place after Trump accepted the GOP nomination in Cleveland.</s>TRUMP: I humbly and gratefully accept --</s>MURRAY (voice-over): Now Trump is changing his story on the Moscow project.</s>TRUMP: I have no deals in Russia. I have no deals that could happen in Russia. Everybody knew about it. It was written about in newspapers. It was a well-known project.</s>MURRAY (voice-over): But, in fact, the deal wasn't made public until 2017. And Trump's shifting stories are raising alarm with Democratic lawmakers.</s>REP. JERRY NADLER (D): One question has always been why was the president so obsequious to Putin from the beginning of the campaign up to the present day and it may be that it's because the Kremlin has leverage over the president.</s>MURRAY (voice-over): Cohen said in a filing that when he was preparing to testify before lawmakers he was in "close and relative contact" with the president's lawyers and White House staff. Cohen would later admit his congressional testimony was a lie. For all Trump's fury with Cohen, he's clearly pleased with long-time political adviser, Roger Stone.</s>ROGER STONE, LONG-TIME TRUMP ALLY: There is no circumstance under which I would testify against the president because I would have to bear false witness against him. I would have to make things up.</s>MURRAY (voice-over): Trump hailing Stone's comments on Twitter today. "Nice to know that some people still have guts."</s>VAUSE: And that was political correspondent Sara Murray. And some legal experts say the message from the president to Roger Stone amounts to witness tampering. However, they add, proving that in court is difficult. The president of the United States may be in denial but the U.N. is not. The urgent call for action coming out of COP24, the climate change conference in Poland. That's just ahead. Also the White House maybe not be taking climate change seriously but one Texas city. Coming up, extreme measures in El Paso.