Kushner Contradicts Trump team's Denials Of Russian Contacts; Trump Aides Admit To Russia Meetings After Denials; President Trump Routinely Calls Russia Story fake News. Aired 11p - Midnight ET
LEMON: President Trump routinely calls news about the Russia investigation fake news. Over the past year, he and his top aides repeatedly denied there were any meetings between the Trump campaign and Russians. We now know those denials are false. Here's CNN Tom Foreman with more.</s>TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Twice in the campaign and twice in the transition, the President's son-in-law and White House adviser met with Russians. And Jared Kushner says it was always proper.</s>JARED KUSHNER, PRESIDENT'S SENIOR ADVISER: Let me be very clear, I did not include with Russia nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so.</s>FOREMAN: But for months amid questions about Russian meddling in the election, President Trump has pushed a different story.</s>TRUMP: I have nothing to do with Russia, folks, ok?</s>FOREMAN: Dismissing claims anyone on his team even had contact with Russians.</s>TRUMP: No, nobody that I know of.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you're not aware of any contacts during the course of the election.</s>TRUMP: How many times do I have to answer this question? I have nothing to do with Russia, to the best of my knowledge no person that I deal with does.</s>FOREMAN: On twitter is has roared Russia is fake news put out by the Dems and played up by the media, such dishonesty or total scam.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you have any contact with Russia leading up to the campaign?</s>FOREMAN: Vice President Mike Pence.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did any adviser or anybody in the Trump campaign have any contact with the Russians who were trying to meddle in the election?</s>MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, of course not.</s>FOREMAN: Yet, we know well before those denials, Kushner joined then campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Donald Trump Jr. to meet with Russians after Trump Jr. was promised dirt on Hillary Clinton. How now he says the meeting was a bust, not even about that subject. But the very next month, there he was ridiculing Democrats for suggesting the Russians were trying to meddle.</s>DONALD TRUMP JR., OLDEST SON OF DONALD TRUMP: It's disgusting and so phony.</s>FOREMAN: Paul Manafort vehemently dismissed the idea.</s>PAUL MANAFORT, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN MANAGER: I don't know anything about you what you just said. To say you know, I don't know what you're talking about. It's crazy.</s>FOREMAN: And that talking point has been echoed repeatedly ever since.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did anyone involved in the Trump campaign have any contact with Russians trying to meddle with the election?</s>KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: Absolutely not. And I discussed that with the President-Elect just last night. Those conversations never happened.</s>FOREMAN: As now Press Secretary Sara Huckabee Sanders said earlier this year, it's hard to make a comment on something that never happened. But now members of the President's team are admitting there were meetings with Russians despite all of those denials. And some of the President's opponents are clearly hoping this means he could pay a real price for all of those things that he is called fake news. Don?</s>LEMON: Tom Foreman, thank you very much. I want to bring in Dylan Buyers is a CNN senior reporter for medium politics, Political Analyst Rebecca Berg National Political Reporter for Real Clear Politics and Frank Sesna, Director of the school of media and public affairs at George Washington University and the author of "Ask more, the power of questions to open doors, uncover solutions and spark change." Good evening to all of you. Mr. Sesna, you first, the President said again and again he has said that Russia's a hoax, its fake news. Then all the Russian meetings were disclosed, the Don Jr. e-mails published showing the suspect line Presidential election. Story after story it's been proven true. How can the President still claim that he is the victim of fake news?</s>FRANK SESNA, DIRECTOR, MEDIA AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: He can't. He does because he can say the words. He can't claim he is a victim of fake news. What Tom Foreman's piece showed so clearly is a repeated series of comments that didn't merely say we didn't collude? They said we didn't meet with them. Nobody had anything-to-do with them. Take the words for what they are. This isn't about fake news. This isn't about some kind of partisan spin. This is what they said now and what they say now which is yes, we did meet with them but -- and that is the problem and it hurts the President. It hurts his credibility and it hurts the credibility of anybody who steps near a microphone anywhere near the White House not just this but in other issues, too. The President can attack fake news and attack the media all he wants but this thing boomerangs and it has a very, very serious effect, because at the end of the day, as Sean Spicer knows, all he is got is his credibility.</s>LEMON: There you go. The president called, very well said by the way. The President called the e-mail story Rebecca, fake till e-mail chain was released by his own son. Then he praised Don Jr. for being transparent, the polar opposite of the truth. Why do people believe it?</s>REBECCA BERG, POLITICAL ANALYST, CNN: Well, not many people do at this point. Credibility is an issue for this administration. I mean, we look at some of the statements that have come out of the briefing room, some of the statements that have come from the President himself. And time and again, we've seen their credibility thrown into question or even blatantly shown to be wrong. So this does matter ultimately, because the President and the White House need to have some level of authority. When we're talking about the United States dealing with a crisis or a matter of national security or foreign policy, where the President is speaking on behalf of the country, these things credibility does come into play and it really does matter.</s>LEMON: Dylan, the President calls stories he doesn't like fake news but many times the sources are from inside the White House. Then the administration decries the leaks. Do you think people will see through this over time?</s>DYLAN BYERS, SENIOR REPORTER FOR MEDIA AND POLITICS, CNN: You would hope. But you know this sort of crisis of credibility we've been talking about is something the administration has had since day one. Ever since former press secretary Sean Spicer came out and lied about the size of Trump's inauguration crowd. The question is when does all of this break through? When does that sort of core base of Trump supports begin to question how that can be fake if even the President's son Donald Trump Jr. is acknowledging that these e-mails existed, publishing them himself? How can we trust a President and an administration that consistently says no, there is no contact with the Russians when there's tons of evidence out there now to suggest that there was contact with the Russians? You know, Don, well you've been on air Trump has tweeted against a Washington Post story talking about the way that Trump Syria's strategy is relying heavily on Russia, he is calling that fake news and using that to go after Amazon, because Jeff Bezos also owns "the Washington Post" despite the fact Jeff Bezos has no editorial say ever "the Washington Post." it is an attempt every time the president uses the term fake news to muddy the waters, to confuse people, undermine the sense of integrity in the press even when stories are entirely accurate. And as Frank was saying, it's detrimental to our society and it's a problem. But as to whether or not people see through it, I don't know if that core base, that 30 to 35 percent of core Trump supporters really gives a damn about what we say.</s>LEMON: I think it's starting to crack. I think that there are polls that show that. It hasn't completely penetrated but it's starting to crack. Even conservative media now are wondering how we're going to start covering the actual news instead of creating scenarios about leaks and changing what the story actually is. Frank, it is a pattern that we've seen repeatedly, deny a story and admit it when they have to, then say it's not important. Anyone would have done it. Is there any indication this pattern will change. My son, anyone would have taken the meeting that Don Jr. had. Is that going to change at all, do you think?</s>SESNA: I just don't know. It's so hard to look at this. What's so fascinating see Scaramucci coming in, the communications Director. Communication Director is supposed to have a strategy to the communication. What is the strategy here? You know, we lurch from one day to the next, one day the President is saying you know, health care is going to be available for everybody and we can't just end it without having a replacement and the next day it's a different story. I've never seen anything like this from a White House. It's a lack of discipline. It's a chaos of message that reflects a chaos I guess of thought and experience. And so where they go from here I don't know. But you know one thing is very interesting and is very dangerous for the President. That is this becomes the narrative of his presidency, this lack of credibility, this fast and loose with the facts. Every presidency has a narrative that develops around it. And that can be very damaging. It can also be very supportive. To the long time for LBJ to lose Walter Cronkite over Vietnam, I don't know what's going to happen, but when Sheppard Smith over at Fox started saying bad things about the President's story and calling him lies, that is not a good thing if you're over at the White House.</s>BYERS: You know, don, if I may, one point that Frank just made, part of the strategy here might just be chaos. I would point viewers to a piece that the New Yorker's television critic Emily Nussbaum just wrote about Donald Trump's showmanship, the way he is brought reality television into the business of being President of the United States. Many of the decisions that are being made have to do with sort of keeping people on their toes, have to do with the entertainment value. Putting Scaramucci in that position, a guy with zero experience in politics, zero experience certainly in running a communication shop, a lot of that has to do with the sort of showmanship of a guy like Scaramucci purely for the element of political theater.</s>LEMON: The problem, save it for the other side. I've got to take a break. If this administration especially this President is at all concerned about legacy at this point, history will not be kind when written about the chaos and the lies and all of that. We'll continue on the other side of the break.