Russian Spy Now Cooperates with Mueller; Trump is Pissed Off; Bipartisan Voice Stands to Defend Democracy; Details about Maria Butina, the Alleged Russian Spy
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN HOST: Looking for a deal that he could get a piece of. None of that was true. Why lie? So, tonight we see that the president's concern that the Democrats may be out to impeach him is a justifiable concern. Do they have a case? Here's my final point. That's up to you. A lot of pressure, but all of this will come down to you. This is not going to be about a criminal prosecution. I don't see it. If I'm wrong, I'll be the first one to admit it. But impeachment is about an echo effect of the public sentiment on the same. There will be polls. There will be reporting. There will be chances for you to be heard on this. That's what will drive what happens next. Thank you for watching us tonight. Happy Monday. So much news. Let me get you right to Don. "CNN TONIGHT" starts now.</s>DON LEMON, CNN HOST: He lied about the lies that he lied about. It's in both.</s>CUOMO: Indeed.</s>LEMON: Yes, he did. He's like, let me tell you why I lied, and even in those statements, there is some factual errors in the statement as well. To me, it's just I think it has been sort of accepted that this president lies and normalized in a way, and that is bothersome no matter who the president is. But that's just bothersome to me and what it does to the fabric of our society.</s>CUOMO: From the beginning, I took a lot of heat because you're calling out lies. Maybe they matter. Maybe they don't. But it's so pejorative. Lying is the basis of all criminal prosecution.</s>LEMON: Right.</s>CUOMO: And political upheaval.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>CUOMO: He has been lying about things. It is now becoming a matter of fact in terms of the understanding of what happened around him with respect to Russian interference. There going to be -- there is going to be trouble ahead.</s>LEMON: He's saying, well, they were private transactions, right, speaking of the payments that--</s>CUOMO: You're talking about the payments to the women.</s>LEMON: To Karen McDougal, to the women. But then if they were private transactions, why didn't he disclose them, right? And then he comes back to try to explain why he didn't, and then he lied about it. And then, if, so why, again, you brought it up. Then why keep lying about the Trump Tower thing knowing that somehow -- I don't know. I don't get it. I don't get how so much lying is acceptable. It's just not for me. I know that politicians have issues with the truth sometimes, but this is on steroids, Chris. I mean it's outrageous.</s>CUOMO: Mueller is going to give us a set of facts, but then the game begins.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>CUOMO: And what happens with those facts, I believe -- and, again, I could be wrong. Nobody will have more fun with that proposition than you. But if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. If I'm right, it means what politicians will do will be a function of what people want them to do. And it's going to be a big burden, and we haven't had one like it in a long time.</s>LEMON: Well, it's going to -- I think public opinion is going to shape a lot of this, whether people believe it or not, and that is what he's banking on. But the truth is the truth is the truth. And people should dig down within themselves and think about it. If you're a Trump supporter, how would you feel if Barack Obama had done the same thing or Bill Clinton or even George W. Bush? If they had done the exact same thing, how would you feel? I think they would be feeling a whole lot differently than they feel about this because nothing seems to matter right now. Truth doesn't matter unless -- the truth only matters for Trump supporters when it's a Democrat.</s>CUOMO: But that's not the truth.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>CUOMO: And look, it could cut both ways. For the Democrats, this is a daunting proposition. What do you do with your power? And, you know, because it's not too long until 2020.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>CUOMO: You know, we have another election a couple of years from now.</s>LEMON: Wait now. They should wait. They have time. Wait to see if something actually does transpire. And again, you don't want to talk about impeachment if it's not a real possibility. You want to get on with the business of the American people. And that is ultimately what will keep you in good stead with the American people.</s>CUOMO: Nancy Pelosi said the same thing to me the day after the election.</s>LEMON: Thank you, sir. I'll see you tomorrow.</s>CUOMO: Yes, sir.</s>LEMON: This is CNN tonight. I'm Don Lemon. President Trump out of sight, staying behind closed doors inside the White House today. But we know what's on his mind. Breaking news tonight. Sources telling CNN that the president has expressed concern that he could be impeached when the Democrats take control of the House in January, OK? And also, tonight, 44 former U.S. senators writing an op-ed in the Washington Post. Here it is. They are warning that the country is entering -- here's the op-ed -- entering what they call a dangerous period and calling on current senators to zealously guard our democracy. They say they feel an obligation to speak up about serious challenges to the rule of law, to the Constitution, our governing institutions, and our national security. When have you heard of anything like that? This is at the same time as prosecutors for the first time implicate President Trump, implicate him in possible criminal activity, accusing him as a candidate for office of directing his former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, to pay hush money, to buy the silence of two women who claim to have had affairs with Trump. Prosecutors writing in the Cohen document this. "As Cohen himself has now admitted with respect to both payments, he acted in coordination with and at the direction of individual one." You know who prosecutors say is individual one? They identify him as Donald Trump. The president lashing out at the accusations this morning in a tweet, misspelling by the way the word smoking. Here's what he writes. "He says, Democrats can't find a 'smocking' gun tying the Trump campaign to Russia after James Comey's testimony. No 'smocking' gun. No collusion. That's because there was no collusion. So now the Dems go to a simple private transaction, wrongly call it a campaign contribution, which it was not. Lawyers liability if he made a mistake, not me. Cohen just trying to get his sentence reduced." All right. There's a lot in there, and we'll talk about it. So, let's break down some of what he is claiming there, OK? He's admitting payments were made. Now he's admitting it. He didn't before. But he's admitting payments were made to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, but he is dismissing them as simple private transactions. There's always an excuse for why he lied. But he can't keep his story straight. So, remember when he lied about the payments when questioned by reporters on Air Force One? This was back in the spring. Let me remind you. Here it is.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, did you know about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels?</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Then why did Michael--</s>TRUMP: What else?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did Michael Cohen make this if there was no truth to her allegations?</s>TRUMP: Well, you'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael is my attorney, and you'll have to ask Michael.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know where he got the money to make that payment?</s>TRUMP: No, I don't know.</s>LEMON: OK. Well, here's what prosecutors have to say about it. In their court filing, they flat out call the payments illegal campaign contributions. Illegal campaign contributions. I want you to listen to this closely because this has been bugging me for the last few days. I just want to scream at the television when I see it. President Trump and his apologists -- OK? If you're one of them, listen. Working very hard to claim that this is business as usual. And even if it wasn't, it's just like what Obama did during his campaign. That is a flat-out lie. Legal experts will agree. Do a fact check, will you? And let me give you some now, and we'll talk about it more in the show. The Obama campaign did miss filing deadlines and did not promptly refund excess contributions, which they admitted, and they paid, and they paid the fines. My guest -- well, some of my guests will tell you campaigns are fined for doing that all the time. Sometimes there are clerical errors. Sometimes there are other reasons. That is not the same at all as creating a shell company or using a media company to pay hush money for affairs with a porn star and a playboy model during an election so that the public -- the voting public wouldn't find out. It is not the same at all. Come on. Don't be stupid. Don't think that people are stupid by pretending that this is equal and the same thing. It is not. Democrats who are about to take over key House investigative committees with subpoena power issuing warnings to the president. Listen.</s>REP. JERROLD NADLER, (D) NEW YORK: They would be impeachable offenses. Whether they are important enough to justify impeachment is a different question, but certainly they'd be impeachable offenses.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF, (D) CALIFORNIA: My takeaway is there's a very real prospect that on the day Donald Trump leaves office, the Justice Department may indict him, that he may be the first president in quite some time to face the real prospect of jail time.</s>LEMON: So, after Robert Mueller and the New York prosecutors filed their sentencing documents on Friday, President Trump incredibly tweeted this message. "Totally clears the president. Thank you." I'll say that again. "Totally clears the president. Thank you." How he came to that conclusion is mind-boggling. The filings say nothing of the kind. And Mueller points out that Michael Cohen was working on the Trump Tower Moscow project well into June of 2016 and keeping Trump in the loop about it. When Trump basically had the GOP nomination in hand and the Russians were interfering in the election. But as usual, President Trump's deflecting, saying this at the White House on Saturday.</s>TRUMP: On the Mueller situation, we're very happy with what we are reading because there was no collusion whatsoever. There never has been. The last thing I want is help from Russia on a campaign.</s>LEMON: That is an interesting statement, especially in light of reporting that now shows at least 16 associates of Donald Trump had contact with Russians during the 2016 campaign and the transition period following Trump's election victory. Remember, Russia, if you have e-mails, send them out? Didn't need Russia's help, though. The walls are closing in, and we can expect Trump's tweets to get even more and even angrier and more unhinged. And if that's not enough, tonight a source is telling CNN that accused Russian spy Maria Butina is cooperating with federal prosecutors as part of a plea deal. A plea deal where she admits to spying in the U.S. for Russia. Max Boot is here. He's with me to talk about that in just a few minutes, OK? Also, tonight, though, the president has another immediate problem. He needs to find a new chief of staff and is said to be super pissed -- that's a quote -- because the person he wanted for the job, Vice President Pence's chief of staff, Nick Ayers, said no. The president didn't have a backup plan and is now starting the search from scratch, all over again. He wants someone in place soon, someone with political savvy. Word is from the White House is that the president, President Trump is becoming increasingly concerned about Democrats taking over the House come January with all their oversight and subpoena power at the ready. So, there is a whole lot to get to, but we begin with the news that accused Russian spy Maria Butina is cooperating with federal prosecutors as part of a plea deal. So, let's bring in Max Boot. He's the author of "The Corrosion of Conservatism, Why I Left the Right." Max, thank you so much. What kind of information could Butina provide to American investigators?</s>MAX BOOT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it's very interesting, Don. I mean, this really seems like something out of a sequel to the Manchurian candidate, but this is fact, not fiction. And the reality is Robert Mueller has already indicted 25 Russians on charges of interfering in the U.S. election, but Maria Butina is the first one who is actually in U.S. custody and who is cooperating with American prosecutors. So, it's quite possible she could shed more light on what the Russians are up to, especially because she was quite close to Alexander Torshin, who was the deputy governor of the Russian central bank and somebody who was close to Putin and was somebody who was focused on infiltrating the NRA and through the NRA, Republican politics.</s>LEMON: I want to play this for you. This is a clip of Butina asking then-candidate Donald Trump, right, a question. It was at a campaign event in 2015. Here it is.</s>MARIA BUTINA, ACCUSED RUSSIAN SPY: I'm visiting from Russia.</s>TRUMP: Putin. Good friend of Obama, Putin.</s>BUTINA: My question--</s>TRUMP: He liked Obama a lot. Go ahead.</s>BUTINA: If you would be elected as president, what will be your foreign politics especially in the relationships with my country, and do you want to continue the politics of sanctions that are damaging both economy, or you have any other ideas?</s>TRUMP: OK. Obama gets along with nobody. The whole world hates us. I know Putin, and I'll tell you what. We get along with Putin. I believe I would get along very nicely with Putin, OK?</s>LEMON: So, she asks if sanctions will continue, which is pretty clearly a major foreign policy goal for Russia, right?</s>BOOT: Right. Very bizarre situation where you wonder if that was a setup with her asking that question. But it just points to the fact that there was a massive Russian penetration of American politics and specifically of the Republican Party, and Maria Butina was part of that operation.</s>LEMON: We have to remember at the same time this was when they were trying to get -- at least Trump, his business--</s>BOOT: Yes.</s>LEMON: -- the business part of what he does.</s>BOOT: Yes.</s>LEMON: -- trying to get this tower in Moscow, this Trump Tower in Moscow.</s>BOOT: That's right. I mean you kind of have to laugh at Donald Trump constantly protesting, no collusion, no collusion, no collusion, no smoking gun, et cetera, when you see more and more evidence of collusion, with the fact that there were at least 16 Trump aides who had contacts with the Russians, a total of almost 100 contacts that we know about. And some of them incredibly suspicious, things that if they had come out during the campaign could well have sunk the Trump campaign. I mean imagine if we had known that the Trump high command was meeting with Russians who were promising dirt on Hillary Clinton right before they actually started leaking dirt through WikiLeaks. I mean that is highly suggestive, and so is the fact that Trump and his aides have consistently lied about that and not just lied about it, but Donald Trump has also obstructed justice to stop the investigation of what happened. So, I mean you can't imagine a more nefarious or suggestive set of facts, Don.</s>LEMON: I want to read this and get your reaction to this. This is a letter by 44 Democratic and Republican, former senators in the Washington Post tonight, OK? And they write, Max, "whatever united or divided us, we did not veer from our unwavering and shared commitment to placing our country democracy and national interest above all else. At other critical moments in our history when constitutional crises have threatened our foundations, it has been the Senate that has stood in defense of our democracy. Today, is once again such a time." What are the former senators getting at here, you think? What would it look like for the Senate to stand up for the rule of law?</s>BOOT: Well, for starters, they should pass the bill protecting Robert Mueller from being fired by Donald Trump. But I think more broadly, I think what we're seeing is evidence potentially of high crimes and misdemeanors for which the House would certainly be willing to impeach Donald Trump if they thought that there was any chance of removing him in the Senate. And so, the question becomes, will senators examine the evidence fairly and on the merits, or will the Republican senators put their partisan loyalty above their patriotism to the country? And clearly, these former senators, stress former, are telling their current colleagues, please put your patriotism and your devotion to the country over your faith to the Republican Party.</s>LEMON: Or to just--</s>BOOT: Or Donald Trump.</s>LEMON: There you go. Thank you, Max Boot. Federal prosecutors for the first time implicating President Trump in possible criminal activity, campaign finance violations. How much legal jeopardy could he face? We're going to talk about that next.