Michael Cohen Says Loyalties to "Family and Country, Not President Trump"; Democratic Division as Calls Grow to Abolish ICE; John Bolton: U.S. Could Recognize Russian Annexation of Crimea
ACOSTA: "Family and country," that's what President Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, says is where his loyalties lie. His comments come as some within the president's circle think the president could be turned against by Cohen and potentially put the president in legal jeopardy in a series of matters, including the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels. Joining me now from Los Angeles is Congressman Ted Liu, a Democrat, on both the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees. Congressman, what do you make of Michael Cohen's comments? They seem to be carefully choreographed this morning. But they do seem to indicate the possibility that he may turn against the president. What do you make of that?</s>REP. TED LIEU, (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you for your question. It is not remarkable that he said he would put family first. But when he added that he would put country first, I found that very interesting. Because it suggests that Donald Trump was not putting country first. And then looking at this entire interview, as a former prosecutor, it seems he's signaling to the president he's going to flip on him. I hope the president does not pardon Michael Cohen, because if he does, that's crossing a red line for Democrats and also some Republicans.</s>ACOSTA: Do you think it also could be a flair to the president that if you're going to pardon me, do it now? Is that how you're reading between the lines here potentially? What do you think, Congressman?</s>LIEU: Reading between the lines, it absolutely seems like he is telling the president that he will likely flip on the president if he is charged, and he's hoping, in his own mind, I think, to try to get a pardon. I think that would be a grave mistake. I hope the president does not go down that path.</s>ACOSTA: And moving onto other topics, as you know, we found these massive immigration demonstrations over the weekend. Tens of thousands of Americans taking to the streets around the country protesting the zero-tolerance policy of the president, the policy that forced family separations. With that as a backdrop, as you know, I don't have to forecast this too much. There's a growing call among Democrats who want to abolish ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Where do you stand on eliminating ICE? There are a number of Democratic congressmen in both the House and the Senate who are starting to come forward in saying this. Are you joining that core, I suppose you can call it, of Democrats who want to see ICE eliminated?</s>LIEU: I have called for the resignation of Secretary Nielsen of Homeland Security. We just put in a new ICE director. I think he should be given some opportunity to try to change the culture of ICE. Then we need to change the policies of ICE so they don't terrorize communities. If none of that happens, then I would support abolishing ICE and replacing it with an agency that is more consistent with America's values.</s>ACOSTA: And let me ask you this. Because the president seems to be delighting in this possibility that you're going to have a lot of Democrats calling for the elimination of ICE. He seems to think that this is a winning issue for him going into the midterms. You've been hearing this for a couple of weeks, positioning himself against the Democrats saying he's for border security. He's for -- he's against crime and that Democrats are for open borders. And an increase in crime. Obviously, there's a lot of political hyperbole in that. But this notion of eliminating ICE, are you concerned the Democratic Party could be portrayed as being anti-law enforcement going into the midterms? And doesn't that concern you somewhat?</s>LIEU: I'm not concerned because ICE actually doesn't deal with borders. That's customs and Border Patrol. No one is calling me for elimination of Border Patrol. What happened to ICE is it was an agency with multiple missions including tackling child pornography, sex trafficking, things people can support. But part of the mission went beyond what they were supposed to do and they started terrorizing communities. That's the part Democrats are concerned about. And the president, since his inauguration, has been bashing immigrants this entire time. At the same time, Democrats won 43 special elections, flipped Alabama, flipped a seat in western Pennsylvania. So we're happy to talk about immigration as well as the economy and jobs. Clearly, people are not experiencing the benefits of this economy, especially middle-class families.</s>ACOSTA: I want to ask you about this upcoming summit, President Trump sitting down with Vladimir Putin. The president's national security adviser, John Bolton, will not rule out the possibility that they could recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea. What do you make of that?</s>LIEU: That's a grave mistake because that only incentivizes Russia to attack other countries as well. We need to continue pushing back against Russia. I agree with Nikki Haley, our U.N. ambassador, that Russia should be sanctioned more for what they've done. I'm glad the administration has taken some steps towards that. They need to fully implement the congressional sanctions that we all passed on a bipartisan basis.</s>ACOSTA: What would it say about the president, do you think, if he says that Russia can keep Crimea, that he essentially is recognizing Crimea as part of Russia? What does that say about the president, do you think?</s>LIEU: I do not understand why the president is so close with Vladimir Putin. He seems to do everything Putin says. That is a mystery to me. I don't really understand how the president of the United States is taking all Russia's talking points and making them into American policy. It is very, very concerning.</s>ACOSTA: All right. Congressman Ted Lieu, thank you for joining us. We appreciate it. We'll see you next time.</s>LIEU: Thank you.</s>ACOSTA: Thank you, sir. Anthony Scaramucci, who normally defends the president, is now warning the trade wars are going too far. This, as Canada is striking back in a way that will hit Americans. Plus, an anti-Trump leftist is elected president of Mexico. So how does all of this impact relations with the U.S.? We're going to be live in Mexico coming up straight ahead.