House GOP releases Comey interview transcript

[0:03] This is CNN Breaking News. [0:06] You're live in the CNN newsroom. [0:08] I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. [0:09] Thanks for being here. [0:10] Our breaking news this hour, [0:11] House Republicans have just released a transcript [0:14] of what was described as a tense, [0:16] closed-door interview with fired FBI Director James Comey [0:19] about how he handled investigations [0:21] having to do with the president and Hillary Clinton. [0:25] Let's get right to CNN's Laura Jarrett. [0:27] And Laura, I know you're still going through these transcripts. [0:29] What are the big takeaways so far? [0:32] Yeah, that's right, Ana. [0:33] We've got 200-plus pages here. [0:35] But so far, one of the interesting takeaways [0:37] was some questioning about the president's [0:39] first national security advisor, General Michael Flynn. [0:43] And, of course, we remember the recollection [0:46] of what Comey said about how the president [0:48] allegedly asked him to let the investigation [0:51] into Flynn go early on in January of 2017. [0:55] And so Comey was asked about the fact [0:57] that Flynn has now been cooperating with the government, [1:00] ultimately pleading guilty to lying [1:02] to investigators. [1:03] And so I want to read to you just a little bit [1:04] of what he told House members yesterday on that point. [1:08] And he says, of course, there was no chance at all [1:10] that I was going to abide by that direction [1:11] to let the Flynn investigation go. [1:14] And then he goes on to say, [1:15] when I saw the public accounts of his plea and cooperation, [1:18] I felt as a citizen glad that he was held accountable for his crimes [1:22] and that he was assisting the United States. [1:24] So it seemed to me like a just outcome. [1:27] So just a little interesting color there about how he's looking at this. [1:30] Of course, one of the things that investigators have been really interested in, [1:35] because obviously it could go potential to obstruction of justice [1:38] if the president was trying to disrupt an ongoing investigation, [1:41] asking Comey to let the Flynn investigation go. [1:44] But he doesn't wade into obstruction, [1:46] at least that I've seen thus far. [1:47] He says that's an issue for the special counsel to look into, [1:50] as he has said before. [1:51] And then so far, we've seen a lot of rehearsing [1:54] of old territory in this transcript, Anna. [1:56] I got to tell you, a lot on how the FBI [1:58] looked into Hillary Clinton's handling of classified information, [2:02] of course, how she treated those classified emails [2:04] that we've heard so much about for the last couple years. [2:07] We are a lot of treading over old territory about the tarmac meeting [2:11] between former President Bill Clinton [2:13] and then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch [2:15] and whether Comey thought that that was inappropriate. [2:18] He's, of course, weighed in on that in the past, [2:20] saying he thought it was, [2:21] and it was part of the reason he thought [2:23] the Attorney General Loretta Lynch should step aside. [2:26] And then he's also asked by Republicans early on [2:28] about a former FBI counterintelligence official, [2:31] Peter Strzok, that we've heard so much about from President Trump. [2:34] Of course, Strzok was on both the Russia investigation [2:37] and the Hillary Clinton email investigation. [2:40] And he's asked whether he thought that his text messages [2:43] with Lisa Page, another FBI official, were appropriate. [2:47] Comey said he thought that they were not appropriate, [2:49] as he has already said in the past. [2:51] And he also said that he thought [2:52] if he had known about them at the time, [2:54] he would have taken those two individuals [2:56] off of those investigations, Anna. [2:58] So some interesting color here, [3:00] but much we have already seen in the past, [3:02] as Comey said that we would. [3:04] Yeah, let's listen to Comey, in fact, [3:06] and what he had to say about the interview on Friday. [3:10] After a full day of questioning, [3:12] two things are clear to me. [3:13] One, we could have done this in open settings. [3:16] And two, when you read the transcript, [3:19] you will see that we're talking again [3:20] about Hillary Clinton's emails, for heaven's sake. [3:22] So I'm not sure we need to do this at all. [3:25] But I'm trying to respect the institution [3:27] and to answer questions in a respectful way. [3:30] You'll see I did that in the transcript. [3:32] Laura, we know Comey has testified before Congress [3:36] in public settings, [3:37] at least a couple other times before this. [3:39] What was the point of him going back before Congress? [3:43] Yeah, it's interesting. [3:44] You know, I think many feel [3:45] as if this was a last ditch effort [3:46] by House Republicans [3:48] before Democrats retake the House in January [3:51] to try to get the last squeeze of information [3:54] out of somebody who was, of course, [3:55] very key to decisions [3:57] about both the Clinton investigation [3:59] and the Trump-Russia investigation. [4:01] So Comey is at the heart of all of this. [4:03] But so far, he's not adding anything new [4:05] to the equation, Anna. [4:07] All right, Laura Jarrett, [4:08] thank you for that quick reporting, [4:09] that quick turn. [4:10] Also tonight, everyone has been lying [4:12] and Robert Mueller knows it. [4:14] Over the next hour, [4:15] we'll walk you through a series of revelations [4:18] that make clear [4:19] the special counsel's Russia probe [4:20] is focused deep inside the West Wing. [4:23] We will talk about Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort, [4:26] the lies they allegedly told, [4:29] the laws they broke, [4:30] and the communications they allegedly had [4:33] with the White House. [4:35] But before we can even do that, [4:37] we have to talk about this. [4:38] For the first time ever, [4:39] federal prosecutors have connected [4:41] the president of the United States [4:43] to two federal crimes [4:45] before the 2016 election. [4:48] In a court filing yesterday, [4:49] they say Trump's former attorney, [4:51] Michael Cohen, [4:52] was acting at Trump's direction [4:54] when he twice broke campaign finance laws [4:57] by paying off these two women [4:59] that claimed they had an affair with Trump [5:02] and would have gone public [5:03] with their stories before the election. [5:05] Here's the key line. [5:07] In particular, [5:07] and as Cohen has now admitted, [5:09] with respect to both payments, [5:10] he acted in coordination [5:11] with and at the direction of individual one. [5:14] Individual one being the code name [5:16] for the president. [5:17] Today, he denied he did anything illegal [5:19] with either Cohen or with Russia. [5:22] There was no collusion whatsoever. [5:26] There never has been. [5:28] The last thing I want is help from Russia [5:31] on a campaign. [5:33] You should ask Hillary Clinton about Russia [5:35] because she financed the fake dossier. [5:38] Sir, did you direct Michael Cohen [5:40] to commit any... [5:41] No, no, no. [5:43] Let's get right to CNN political correspondent [5:46] Sarah Murray. [5:47] Sarah, prosecutors did not mince their words [5:50] in describing this hush money scheme. [5:52] No, they really didn't. [5:53] And obviously, as you pointed out, [5:54] they implicated President Trump [5:56] in these payments. [5:57] And the Southern District of New York, [5:59] they were very harsh [5:59] when it came to Michael Cohen. [6:01] They said he deserves substantial jail time. [6:03] And in particular, [6:04] they had an issue, obviously, [6:06] with these payments. [6:07] Here's what they said [6:08] about Michael Cohen's move [6:10] to make these hush money payments [6:11] in violation of campaign law. [6:13] They said, [6:13] while many Americans [6:14] who desired a particular outcome [6:16] to the election [6:16] knocked on doors, [6:18] toiled at phone banks, [6:19] or found any number of other legal ways [6:21] to make their voices heard, [6:23] Cohen sought to influence [6:24] the election from the shadows. [6:26] And so you see [6:27] the Southern District of New York [6:28] taking it very seriously [6:30] that Michael Cohen, [6:31] hand-in-hand with Donald Trump, [6:32] tried to influence an election [6:34] in a legal manner. [6:36] Anna. [6:36] The court document [6:37] we just talked about [6:38] was a sentencing memo [6:40] from the Southern District of New York, [6:42] separate from Robert Mueller's filing [6:45] in his own sentencing memo [6:47] for Cohen. [6:47] And in it, [6:48] they detail a previously unknown contact [6:51] that Cohen had with a Russian [6:54] way back in 2015. [6:56] Tell us about that, Sarah. [6:57] That's right. [6:57] In addition to Michael Cohen [6:58] coming clean with them [6:59] about the Trump Tower Moscow project [7:01] and how it had been going on longer [7:03] than he was originally honest about [7:05] and how he kept Trump [7:06] in the loop about that, [7:07] he also talked about [7:08] this Russian national [7:08] who approached him [7:09] around November of 2015. [7:11] And here's what the filing [7:12] from Mueller's office [7:13] said about that. [7:14] Cohen received the contact information [7:16] for and spoke with [7:17] a Russian national [7:17] who claimed to be [7:18] a trusted person [7:20] in the Russian Federation [7:21] and who could offer [7:22] the campaign political synergy [7:24] and synergy on a government level. [7:27] This person who was never named [7:28] even offered to set up [7:29] a meeting between [7:30] then-candidate Trump [7:31] and Russian President Vladimir Putin. [7:33] Now, Michael Cohen [7:34] apparently never took [7:35] this person up on the meeting, [7:36] but it is yet another example [7:38] of the Russians [7:39] trying to infiltrate [7:40] the Trump campaign [7:41] or Trump's inner circle [7:42] trying to make inroads there, [7:44] Ana, and very early [7:45] in the 2016 presidential campaign. [7:47] All right, Sarah, [7:48] stay with me. [7:48] I want to come back to you [7:49] to talk Manafort in just a bit, [7:51] but let's focus on Cohen right now. [7:53] And with us to do just that [7:54] is former Clinton White House [7:55] counsel Jack Quinn [7:56] and former prosecutor [7:58] for the Justice Department [7:59] Joseph Moreno. [8:00] So, Jack, [8:01] Trump says he's happy [8:02] with what he sees in these memos. [8:05] You've advised a president [8:06] if you were Trump's attorney, [8:07] would you be happy [8:08] with what's in these filings? [8:10] I would be anything but happy. [8:12] I think that the filings [8:14] in both cases [8:16] should make people [8:17] in the White House [8:18] and in the Trump legal team [8:20] exceedingly worried [8:22] about what's coming next. [8:25] Joseph, the president points out [8:26] in these documents [8:27] that they don't prove collusion. [8:30] He says the last thing he'd want [8:32] is help from Russia, [8:34] but that's not entirely true. [8:36] Let's listen. [8:38] There was no collusion whatsoever. [8:41] There never has been. [8:43] The last thing I want [8:44] is help from Russia [8:45] on a campaign. [8:47] Russia, if you're listening, [8:49] I hope you're able to find [8:51] the 30,000 emails [8:53] that are missing. [8:55] Besides Trump asking [8:59] for those emails, [9:00] he also, we know, [9:02] at least his campaign, [9:02] was willing to accept [9:04] help from Russia [9:05] because of that [9:06] Trump Tower meeting. [9:07] But, Joseph, [9:08] is the president right [9:09] when he says [9:09] these documents [9:10] don't prove collusion? [9:12] Hi, Anna. [9:13] Well, first off, no. [9:14] I mean, these documents [9:15] don't prove or disprove collusion. [9:17] It's perhaps a small sigh of relief [9:19] on the president's defense side [9:21] that they don't come out [9:22] and outright lay it out there, [9:23] but I would think [9:24] he's far from [9:25] out of the weeds here. [9:26] There's a reason [9:27] that the president [9:28] keeps going back [9:29] to this notion of collusion [9:31] or the lack thereof, right? [9:32] Remember, [9:32] half the law is [9:33] in the courtroom. [9:34] The other half of the law [9:35] is in the court [9:36] of public opinion. [9:37] And the president [9:38] is very much fighting [9:39] in the court [9:39] of public opinion. [9:40] And so he's going [9:41] to keep that bar [9:42] at collusion [9:43] and say anything short [9:44] of that just falls short. [9:46] I think the president [9:46] believes he can probably [9:48] weather an obstruction case. [9:50] He believes he can [9:51] weather a campaign [9:52] finance case. [9:52] But he knows [9:53] his support collapses, [9:55] both congressionally [9:56] and in the American population, [9:57] if a collusion case [9:59] is built against him. [10:01] And so that's why [10:01] he's going to keep [10:02] pounding that drum. [10:03] Now, if that evidence [10:04] does appear, [10:05] he may have to pivot [10:06] and we'll see where that goes. [10:08] We know the president [10:08] has over and over again [10:09] tried to call this [10:10] all a witch hunt, [10:11] but these documents [10:12] do point directly [10:13] to Mueller's mandate [10:15] about Russia's involvement [10:17] in the 2016 election [10:19] and potential connections [10:21] with the Trump campaign [10:23] or Trump's inner circle. [10:24] He talks about [10:25] the Trump Tower Moscow project. [10:27] He says it would have [10:28] been lucrative [10:29] and would have likely [10:30] needed Russian government [10:31] assistance to go through. [10:33] Mueller also notes [10:34] that it came at a time [10:35] when Russia was interfering [10:37] in the election.