Andrew McCabe Testified with Congressional Committee
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN Tonight. I'm Don Lemon. Breaking news. What could the bombshell testimony by the FBI's deputy director? Sources say Andrew McCabe telling congressional investigators that he can back up James Comey's claim that President Trump asked the former FBI director for his loyalty which the president denies. Also tonight, President Trump's constant slamming of the Russia investigation coming back to haunt him. A brand-new CNN poll shows a clear majority of Americans feel his statements about the probe are mostly or completely false. Yet, nearly half of Americans approve of special counsel Robert Mueller's handling of the investigation. And more breaking news to tell you about, Congress avoiding a government shutdown tomorrow night, approving short-term spending for federal agencies but not for long. Now a new shutdown deadline looms over Washington. We have a lot to get to tonight. But I want to begin with our breaking news. The FBI -- the FBI's deputy director's testimony today. And I want to bring in CNN's senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju. Manu, good evening to you. I understand you have learned tonight what FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe has been telling lawmakers behind closed doors. What can you tell us?</s>MANU RAJU, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, that's right, he has met with multiple committees this week for two different investigations and one of the committees he met with this week was the house intelligence committee. In a private testimony earlier this week, he was asked about James Comey, his former boss of the FBI, before Comey, of course, was fired by President Trump. And he was asked about conversations that occurred from Comey's telling with President Trump, where Trump apparently had asked James Comey for loyalty, had suggested they should back off on the investigation of Michael Flynn, and had said things that made Comey uncomfortable. This is according to Comey's own public testimony before the Senate intelligence committee earlier this year. Now, when he testified before the Senate intelligence committee, Comey said that he had told some of the senior leadership about these conversations at the time. Well, Don, now we have learned that one of the people that he told was Andrew McCabe. McCabe testified before the House intelligence committee that Comey in did, indeed, tell him about all these conversations soon after they occurred. So that suggests, Don, that he could presumably be a witness. He can provide this contemporaneous account of what Comey had said occurred between him and Trump, and presumably dispute what the president said which is, of course, denying Comey's account saying he did not ask for loyalty, but McCabe says that's not what Comey said, Comey told him the opposite in their private conversation, Don.</s>LEMON: Well, Manu, McCabe, he's been, I mean, he's questioned for hours over the past couple of days. What else have lawmakers been grilling him on?</s>RAJU: Well, in large part today it was about the Clinton e-mail investigation. The -- two of the republican-led committees in the House have launched a separate investigation into FBI's decision- making during the 2016 campaign. In a large part, about how they handled the Hillary Clinton investigation. A lot of republicans are not happy with the way they handled it. They believe there was some bias there. They believed that Hillary Clinton should have been charged with a crime and she should not have been exonerated. And they've questioned Comey's handling of it. So when Andrew McCabe went behind closed doors today, Don, he was asked questions at length by republicans, in particular, about the Clinton e-mail investigation, and McCabe gave his answers about what happened, but I'm told that they provided e-mails and records and it, that republicans showed McCabe in an effort as undermine Comey, undermine the investigation. And I can tell you, Don, afterwards, republicans that I talked to who are in that hearing said they felt pretty good about it. They felt that he actually reinforced their belief that Clinton, in their view, was treated favorably by the FBI, don.</s>LEMON: All right, Manu, I want you to stand by. Because I want to bring in now CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, CNN contributor John Dean, the former White House counsel for President Nixon, and legal analyst Michael Zeldin, Robert Mueller's former special assistant to the Department of Justice. Thank you, guys, for joining us. Welcome to the show. John, let's get right into it. What do you make of reporting from that you just heard from Manu?</s>JOHN DEAN, CONTRIBUTOR, CNN: Well, of course, it's hearsay at this point as far as Comey's testimony is concerned but it is a corroboration and it just makes Comey look more truthful. And so it's supportive in that regard.</s>LEMON: Yes. Michael, President Trump has previously disputed Comey's claim that he asked for a pledge of loyalty. Here's what Trump said when he was asked about Comey's account of the meeting, this is back in June.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So He said those things under oath. Would you be willing to speak under oath to give you version of these events?</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: One hundred percent. I didn't say under oath. I hardly know the man. I'm not going to say I want you to pledge allegiance. Who would do that? Who would ask a man to pledge allegiance under oath? I mean, think of it, I hardly know the man. It doesn't make sense. No, I didn't say that, and I didn't say the other.</s>LEMON: How much of an impact would this new information have?</s>MICHAEL ZELDIN, LEGAL ANALYST, CNN: Well, if he does go under oath, and he does say that he never asked for Comey's loyalty, and he never asked Comey to let the Flynn investigation go, and now you have McCabe, Comey, and Comey's memos all saying the opposite, then you've got a tough decision as a prosecutor to determine whether or not the president has made a false statement under oath which is a chargeable crime or as in the case of Bill Clinton, something that can be reported to Congress for consideration of an article of impeachment. So, it's a very important matter that is arising today if especially the president goes under oath. If he doesn't go under oath, then it lets Mueller make a decision independent of the lie part of it to determine whether or not the McCabe testimony supporting the Comey memo and the Comey testimony is enough to support an obstruction of justice inquiry.</s>LEMON: Yes. Juliette Kayyem, as we have learned from Manu, McCabe spent over eight hours in closed-door hearings today. Yesterday he answered questions for over eight hours as well. What message are republicans trying to send by questioning Andrew McCabe and other prominent members of the FBI?</s>JULIETTE KAYYEM, NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, CNN: I think that they will never let go of Hillary Clinton even though she is not president. It seems that they just want to use the opportunity to go back to a campaign that many people viewed Comey as somewhat responsible for Trump's victory. I mean, in other words, his release of re-opening the investigation was what may have been a contributing factor to Trump's win. I think more importantly, though, just taking a step back, remember that the questions that McCabe is answering are about potential obstruction of justice questions about Michael Flynn. And whether he was compromised by the Russians. So outside of the legal framework that we're talking about, there are major national security concerns which is Donald Trump seemed to be unconcerned that his national security adviser could have been compromised by the Russians, and then the question is, why was he unconcerned? And so I think that that gets to the heart of McCabe's relevancy about Jim Comey's firing.</s>LEMON: I want to bring Manu back in here. Manu, what are you hearing from democrats who participated in these hearings?</s>RAJU: Well, they are pushing back. They said that they believe that republicans today brought Andrew McCabe in as an effort to distract from the Russia investigation. They believe that one reason why they're focusing on the 2016 Clinton e-mail probe is because Donald Trump is feeling some pressure from Bob Mueller's investigation. Now, Jerrold Nadler, who is a top democrat in the House judiciary committee, made this point earlier today. Listen to this.</s>JERROLD NADLER, (D) UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE: This hearing is part of an ongoing republican attempt to divert attention. It's just an attempt to divert -- part of the attempt to divert attention away from the invest -- from the real investigation into the collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. And the subject matter is frivolous.</s>RAJU: Now, Don, republicans, of course have a completely different view. I asked them about their -- the democratic concerns. They said, look, we are just trying to get the facts, trying to figure out exactly what happened here. Now if there was anything improper or wrong that the FBI did, the public deserves to know particularly as these other major investigations are happening. So it just shows the two sides on completely different sides on such a key issue and a key investigation as we head into an election year, Don.</s>LEMON: John Dean, despite republicans' attempts to discredit Robert Mueller, this is what new polling is showing from CNN. That 47 percent of Americans approve of how Mueller is handling the investigation, while 34 percent disapprove of his handling of it. At the same time approval for how President Trump has handled the Russia investigation has sunk two points from November to just 32 percent. Do you think these polling numbers might convince republicans to back off a little?</s>DEAN: Well, it should. They've certainly been hammering at this and trying to discredit the orchestrated effort at the House judiciary committee, recently the constant barrage by the conservative media trying to undercut the investigation. It's clearly not sticking, so they might be wise to recalibrate and try to get on the right side of this issue.</s>LEMON: Go ahead, Michael, is that Michael?</s>ZELDIN: I was going to say, Don, my recollection, and you'll know better than I, but my recollection from the polling numbers also is that 56 percent of the American people do not believe the president is being truthful when he talks about the Russian probe.</s>LEMON: Right.</s>ZELDIN: If I'm correct about that number, that supports John Dean's position that this strategy may be working with republicans, but generally speaking, it's not working with Americans.</s>LEMON: Yes. Well, Juliette, Mueller -- go ahead, Juliette, what did you want to say?</s>KAYYEM: No, I was going to -- I mean, I agree with both of them because we are probably all coming from the belief that if you have nothing to hide, why would you have this strategy? The strategy by the Trump and the Trump White House and the republican supporters makes sense if the only other option is that Mueller is actually on some steady drum beat closer and closer to the Oval Office. I mean, he's appointed in May, by early October he has indictments. By late October, he's got Manafort. By late November, he's got Flynn. This is as close to the Oval Office as you can imagine, so in some ways, I see what's happening as sort of potentially a last resort. There's really no other -- no other explanation than that hay perceive they have no other option at this stage.</s>LEMON: All right, Manu, thank you very much.</s>DEAN: Don, can I...</s>LEMON: Everyone else stay with me. John, you'll get a chance when we come back. Up next, a key republican congressman turning up the heat on the Justice Department and the FBI and issuing subpoenas. What's really going on here?