Trump Spins New Conspiracy Theories; Interview with Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Penn.), Judiciary Committee, on Mueller Reviews of Cohen Documents
DANA BASH, CNN SR. U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And the fact that they have somebody who's so focused on digital at the helm of the Trump campaign they don't -- well, Trump had --</s>JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: All right, Dana Bash, she'll be moderating that town hall with John Hickenlooper tomorrow night for CNN. You can follow me on Facebook and Twitter @JakeTapper. You can tweet the show @TheLeadCNN. Our coverage on CNN continues right now.</s>WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now, breaking news: pushing new conspiracies. President Trump in full conspiracy mode appears with the Brazilian president known as the Trump of the tropics. After the president alleged social media collusion against Republicans they both attacked the news media. The Cohen warrants: unsealed documents from the Michael Cohen search warrants showed the Mueller probe targeted the Trump lawyer almost from the start, scrutinizing email and computer and phone records. What message does it send to others in the Mueller investigation? Leading the pack: a new poll shows Joe Biden leading the Democratic pack with Bernie Sanders a close second. There are signs that the other is also breaking out. Assault on North Korea, a daring raid by a shadowy group opposed to Kim Jong-un. They reportedly wore masks and escaped in luxury vehicles. Did they make off with top secret information? I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.</s>BLITZER: Breaking news: President Trump picks up where his Twitter rampage left off, flanked by the Trump of the tropics, Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro. The president today attacked what he called social media collusion against Republicans and warns of "a very dangerous situation" with news networks saying he was very proud to hear his guest use the term "fake news." That comes as federal warrants unsealed in a Michael Cohen case revealed the president's former lawyer was a target of the Mueller probe almost from the start and that Mueller's team was allowed to review years of Cohen's email and other data. Cohen was a focus of investigators months before they raided his home and office. I'll speak with Madeleine Dean of the Judiciary Committee and our analysts will have full coverage of today's top stories. Let's go to Jim Acosta. Jim, Trump is pushing more and more today.</s>JIM ACOSTA, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. He called it a dangerous situation. He sounded off on what is a growing conspiracy theory in conservative circles, that they are being discriminated against by social media companies. The president offered this without any hard evidence but also spent the day going after the mainstream press as well as late senator, John McCain, continuing his battle with a nemesis whose legacy appears to haunt Mr. Trump.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Latching onto a new conspiracy theory, Trump accused the biggest social media companies of collusion to attack conservatives.</s>TRUMP: There is collusion with respect to that because something has to be going on. Something is happening with those groups of folks that are running Facebook and Google and Twitter. I do think we have to get to the bottom of it.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): The president said he supported an effort by California Republican Devin Nunes to sue Twitter, accusing the tech giant of having a political agenda, complaining anonymous parody accounts have mocked him, standing with Brazil's leader Jair Bolsonaro that has been dubbed the Trump of the tropics and uses the term fake news himself. The president used the opportunity to slam the American press.</s>TRUMP: You look at the networks. You look at the news. You look at the newscasts I'm proud to hear him use the term fake news. You look at what's happening with the networks, look at what's happening with different shows and it's hard to believe we win. It is a very, very dangerous situation. So I think I agree. I think something has to be looked at very closely.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): The president made the complaints despite having a powerful social media presence. Today Mr. Trump tweeted to his nearly 60 million followers, "The fake news media has never been more dishonest than it is right now. fake news is the absolute enemy of the people and our country." Bolsonaro was asked why "The Daily Caller" whether Democrats in the U.S. are supporting socialist causes.</s>JAIR BOLSONARO, BRAZILIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We will respect whatever the ballots tell us on 2020. But I do believe Donald Trump is going to be reelected fully.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): Earlier the president defended the recent tweetstorm attacking John McCain, saying he will --</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): never forget the late senator's vote.</s>TRUMP: I think it's disgraceful. There are other things. I was never a fan and I never will be. Thank you very much. Thank you. Frankly it's so I don't end up screaming at her about it. You know, I wouldn't entertain that. The only reason is they want to try to catch up. So if they can't catch up through the ballot box they want to try doing it in a different way.</s>ACOSTA (voice-over): The president weighed in on the husband of White House counsel Kellyanne Conway and George Conway, who's questioned whether Mr. Trump is mentally ill. On his tweets about the president, George Conway told "The Washington Post," "The mendacity, the incompetence, it's just maddening to watch. The tweeting is just the way to get it out of the way so I can get it off my chest and move on with my life that day. That's basically it, frankly, and so I don't end up screaming at her about it." The president made it clear he's ready for the 2020 election, teeing on Democratic calls to expand the Supreme Court.</s>TRUMP: No, I wouldn't entertain that. They want to try and catch up so if they can't through the ballot box they want to do it in a different way.</s>ACOSTA: Trump also weighed in on the crisis in Venezuela, repeated all options were on the table as well as the military option. Trump told Bolsonaro he is making Brazil a major non-NATO ally and both leader appear to be in sync on a whole range of topics. Bolsonaro was all but fawning over Mr. Trump as he used the term fake news. The attacks on the press are just the latest sign that Trump's rhetoric aimed at the media is spreading across the globe. When Bolsonaro used the term fake news today, President Trump smiled.</s>BLITZER: He certainly did. Jim Acosta, thank you. Unsealed warrants in the Cohen case showed President Trump's lawyer was a key target of special counsel probe almost from inception. Pamela Brown has been digging into all of this. What have you learned?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are learning that Mueller's interest started much earlier than previously known, with investigators tracking his incoming and outgoing calls. But what's not revealed is raising more questions than answers about one investigation.</s>BROWN (voice-over): Hundreds of pages of newly released documents reveal the extend of the probe into President Trump's former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen.</s>MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: The next President of the United States.</s>BROWN (voice-over): Still it is almost 20 pages of redactions about Cohen's involvement in payments to women that allege affairs with Donald Trump that signal that investigation may not be over.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you investigating President Trump?</s>BROWN (voice-over): Robert Mueller reviewed years, going back to the same month Trump declared he was running for president in 2015. Two months after Mueller's appointment and eight months before the FBI raided the home, office and hotel room Mueller obtained the first warrant. Ten another in August 2017 for Cohen's iCloud and twice more Mueller got approval to track the phone numbers of Cohen's incoming and outgoing calls. April 2018, in conjunction with the Southern District of New York, the FBI conducted multiple raids, with immediate condemnation from Trump.</s>TRUMP: It is a disgrace. It is a real disgrace. It is an attack on our country in a true sense. It is an attack on what we all stand for.</s>BROWN (voice-over): The documents detail the lengths investigators went to probe Cohen. Investigators obtained the authority to use an electronic spoofing device to called a "triggerfish" to track Cohen's cell phones and pinpoint the room Cohen was staying in when the FBI raided his hotel in New York. Investigators interviewed people, including bankers and his accountant, to better understand his finances. The documents allege he was using "encrypted communications applications" such as WhatsApp, Signal and Dust. Prosecutors subpoenaed Google for IP and other data related to Cohen's Gmail accounts. What is not known is the justification from federal prosecutors in New York for warrants related to Cohen's involvement in payments to Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels. After writing the FBI was seeking evidence that Cohen committed a criminal violation of the campaign finance laws, around 20 of the following pages are redacted. The documents also reveal a business relationship between Cohen and a company linked to Russian national Viktor Vekselberg from January 2017 through August 2017 nearly $600,000 poured in to one of Cohen's bank accounts from one of his companies.</s>COHEN: I'm ashamed of my own failings and publicly accepted responsibility for them by pleading guilty in the Southern District of New York. Since late last year President Trump has called Cohen a rat saying he is lying about the president in the Southern District of New York.</s>BROWN (voice-over): Since late last year, President Trump has called Cohen a rat, saying he is lying in order to strike a deal with prosecutors.</s>TRUMP: Very simply, Michael Cohen is lying and he is trying --</s>TRUMP: -- to get a reduced sentence for things that have nothing to do with me.</s>BROWN: Cohen's attorney says the court ordered release only furthers Cohen's interest in continuing to provide information about Trump and the Trump Organization to law enforcement and Congress. Cohen reports to prison in May.</s>BLITZER: All right. Stay with us. Evan, almost20 pages as we just saw were blacked out or redacted in all of this. What does that signal? Could there be more indictments or charges in the works?</s>EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: There may be, Wolf. This is an investigation that is still ongoing. We knew that the Southern District of New York, Manhattan, have been digging further into campaign finance violation. One of the lawyers on the president's side has been that essentially prosecutors are interested to know whether anyone else was part of the cover up, part of campaign finance violation that occurred here. So that's going to be something that is being investigated further. The question is how long does that investigation take? Certainly the president's legal team is prepared that this will continue through the end of Donald Trump's presidency.</s>BLITZER: They really went all out to get so much information.</s>PEREZ: They did.</s>BLITZER: All sorts of information. I suspect others are reading that document. They are saying, I wonder what they have.</s>PEREZ: Right. This is an extremely intrusive search that the prosecutors and the FBI were able to do. Look, I mean they were able to subpoena all of his emails. They were able to get into his iCloud, his Gmail. At one point, Google refused to turn over certain information they said was stored overseas. They were able to persuade a judge to force Google to provide that information, as well as WhatsApp and Signal. All of these were turned over. And anybody who was communicating with Michael Cohen at that time has to be looking back and wondering what they have on them as well.</s>BLITZER: We learned today the Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, the number two at the Justice Department, was supposed to be leaving right about now but he's delaying. Does the Mueller probe have legs? Is it going to go on and on and on?</s>BROWN: All signs we've been reporting is that the Mueller probe is wrapping up. It is in the final stages right now. But Rod Rosenstein thought he would be leaving the DOJ by now. That is not the case. He is staying longer than he had anticipated. Talking to someone close to Rosenstein basically his thinking is he was the one that appointed Robert Mueller and he wants to see this through. He feels his obligation is to be the heat shield if there is fallout after all of this is done.</s>BLITZER: Pamela and Evan, good reporting as usual. Joining us now is Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Judiciary Committee. Congresswoman, thanks for joining us. Do you think the tactics used by Mueller over many, many months tells you how he conducted his overall Russia investigation?</s>REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PENN.), MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: It confirmed for me what I think we already thought of Mueller, that he is a thorough investigator. So it doesn't surprise me that it goes back to June of '15 if we all remember. Donald Trump, without making any attempt at work, stepped onto a downward gliding escalator in Trump Tower on June 16th of 2015 and thus began this journey we have been on here in America. I'm not surprised Mueller would be that thorough.</s>BLITZER: These new documents reveal Mueller's extensive reach into Cohen's data and communications. Should other subjects -- Roger Stone -- be especially worried right now?</s>DEAN: I'm assuming they are. They know they are being closely looked at. We know Cohen was the so-called fixer. Stone loved being in the mix, of trying to clean up whatever mess was surrounding this man before he was president, as he campaigned and now after. I just think --</s>DEAN: -- it's exactly what we expected Mueller to do and all of the more reason we make sure that the Mueller investigation is protected and then made fully public. As you saw, our vote in the House was unanimous. Democrats and Republicans said this Mueller report needs to get to the American public.</s>BLITZER: Yes, 420-0. Many of the documents released today remain heavily redacted, particularly the documents to campaign finance violations. What does that tell you?</s>DEAN: I think it is important that we recognize that everything is not yet being revealed. There must be ongoing investigations. We know Cohen came before a congressional committee recently after his sentencing and revealed and brought with him documents on the payments to Stormy Daniels and the other woman. So we have documentary evidence that is really troubling. These investigations are terribly important.</s>BLITZER: The House Judiciary Committee, which is an extensive investigation. Out of the 81 individuals your committee has requested documents from, we are told only eight or nine have fully complied at least so far. The White House is likely preparing a claim of executive privilege over many of these. Do Democrats have a plan to counter those claims?</s>DEAN: I would say that reporting the not perfectly accurate. My team met with the judiciary team, Mr. Nadler's team today in D.C. And what we know and what we were told is tens of thousands of pages have been turned over and communication is ongoing with many of the subjects and entities of those 81 document requests. So they are working to bring the documents in. That the president is obstructing turning things in does not surprise me at all.</s>BLITZER: So how many of the 81 individuals and entities that, you know, that he requested information and documents from, how many of them have at least delivered the documents or they're on the way?</s>DEAN: I don't have a number but I was told the reporting of eight correct.</s>BLITZER: That eight or nine have fully cooperated? You're saying there are more that already fully cooperated and handed over all of the documents? Is that what you're hearing?</s>DEAN: What I'm hearing is we have gotten tens of thousands of pages and some have said I'll need an accommodation. I can give you some; I'll need more time for others. So I can't confirm how many have fully delivered their documents.</s>BLITZER: Madeleine Dean, thanks for joining us.</s>DEAN: Thank you for having me.</s>BLITZER: Up next, joined by the Trump of the topics. President Trump is peddling more conspiracies, claiming social media companies are colluding against Republicans. And some 20 pages of details from the newly released search warrant documents are redacted. Does it mean the Mueller investigation is still going on?