Trump Begins Initial Preps For Possible Interview; Joseph Schmitz Pushed FBI And House Intelligence Committee to Review Materials He Thought Were Clinton's Missing E-Mails From Her Private Server; CNN Heroes.
DON LEMON, CNN HOST: This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Don Lemon. Just a little past 11:00 here on the East Coast, live with a breaking news tonight, first to CNN exclusive on the Mueller investigation. In the clearest sign yet that President Trump is considering sitting down with the Special Counsel even though that's the last thing some of his advisers want, sources telling CNN that Trump has begun to prepare for a possible interview with Robert Mueller. And in another exclusive, we have learned that one of the Trump campaign's earliest foreign policy advisers who was no coffee boy at all, in fact he literally had a seat at the table, who was part of the effort to expose damaging information about Hillary Clinton during the campaign. Joseph Schmitz pushed the FBI and the House Intelligence Committee to review materials from the dark Web that he thought were Clinton's missing e-mails from her private server. Sources say they believe the material was fake. Let's discuss it all now. I want to bring in CNN's Chief National Security Correspondent, Mr. Jim Sciutto, our Legal Analyst, Michael Zeldin, who is Robert Mueller's special assistant at the Justice Department. National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem, and CNN Contributor, Garrett Graff, the Author of "The Threat Matrix: Inside Robert Mueller's FBI and the War on Global Terror." We have certainly assembled the right group to discuss all of this. And, Jim, I'm going to start with you. Good evening by the way to all of you. Jim, an exclusive reporting from CNN TONIGHT, the President has begun taking preliminary steps to prepare for a possible interview with the Special Counsel. Can you fill us in on what more you are learning?</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: My colleagues are learning that President Trump who has in his public statements been back and forth as to whether he was going to testify, often saying that he would, we're told that behind the scenes he is more back and forth, and he is not quite sure if he is going to make that commitment. But at least he is taking a step and beginning to be prepared for such an interview if he decides to do so. And that would be of course something that some of his advisers had warned him against. We had Roger Stone on the air a short time ago on Anderson's show saying that he is concerned that this is be what sometime perjury trap. But really the concerned that he might catch himself in a lie, or might be caught in a lie by Robert Mueller, and the Special Counsel investigators, but his lawyers now are taking the step of preparing him for the possibility of sitting down with the Special Counsel's team.</s>LEMON: All right. Juliette Kayyem, what does this tell you about the Trump team's view of where thing are going with the Mueller -- in the Mueller investigation?</s>JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, I give them credit for trying to prep the president, whether he is or isn't going to testify. At least they're trying to do something. But it's just a couple of extra points to what, Jim, was saying. I mean, the first is the President lately has not been that busy. If you look at his public records, or his daily records about what he is doing, he maybe has a meeting here, or meeting there. So this may actually sort of confirm what he has been doing during those times, that he is actually trying to prep with the lawyers, but look at what Roger Stone says -- the second thing is Roger Stone says, you know, a perjury trap. He is worried about it? Why is that? Because the President doesn't know how to tell the truth, and if you are the outside world, if you are allies, or enemies, and you think they're worried about the president lying, and they are worried that the President can't stick to a story, I mean it's hard to say that he is an effective leader, or commander in chief. Not for himself, but for us, for the nation. And so, this is just consistent with the narrative that is being sort of exposed, unfortunately, to the outside world as well.</s>LEMON: Garrett, President Trump claims that he is -- he has nothing to hide, even as the guilty pleas from his campaign associates are piling up here. So why wouldn't he -- why wouldn't he sit down with Robert Mueller?</s>GARRETT GRAFF, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think he is going to for two reasons. One, I think that he thinks that he is smarter than Robert Mueller. And so I think, he thinks against, I think, a preponderance of evidence to the contrary that he can outmaneuver one of the most talented team of prosecutors ever assembled in the course of the U.S. Justice System. And then the second thing is, I think in Donald Trump's mind, he doesn't think he has done anything wrong. And so I think both of those point to him thinking that if he just sits down with Bob Mueller, he can sort of go mano a mano like a New York real estate deal, and come out the better half. And I think that Donald Trump has still not figured out that going up against the full weight of the Justice Department and the FBI is different that trying to broker a mortgage deal on a New York City office building.</s>LEMON: So maybe he doesn't know what -- I don't know obstruction -- do you think he doesn't understand, Michael, what obstruction is, and maybe if he is actually even done it? I'm not saying he has. But do you think that's the case, Michael?</s>MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, I'm not sure I agree that it's right to sell the President short in respect of his failure to understand the importance of this interview. I think he fully well understands what it is. I think the preparation probably speaks to the fact that he realizes that this is not a civil deposition, and that he has to prepare for this thing. I think his lawyers are probably impressing him the seriousness of this. Whether he will do his homework or not remains to be seen. But I just would be careful about trying to psychoanalyze the President in respect of this interview.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>ZELDIN: If this interview occurs, and I think it has to occur because I think the law of the land will require it if Mueller pushes the propositions...</s>LEMON: So you think it's going to happen?</s>ZELDIN: ... will be a serious -- I think it has to happen, because the way the law sets up with Nixon versus the United States, and Clinton versus Jones, the President really can't resist testifying. Mueller has to show that he can't get the evidence from another source as a predicate for the interview. And I think that with respect to obstruction of justice and the collusion conspiracy stuff, there is no other evidence other than the intent of the President. And that's to come from the President's mouth. Then the question becomes, Don, what will be the nature of the interview? Will it be an under oath interview, or will it be not under oath interview? It really doesn't matter much. If it's under oath and a person makes a material lie, they can be charged with 1621 perjury. If it's not under oath, and they make a material false statement, they can be charged with 1001 making a false statement. They both carry serious criminal penalties. So I think that's not so much a matter of importance whether under oath or not under oath.</s>LEMON: OK, got you. All right. Interesting. Jim, let's talk about another CNN exclusive, OK? You have new reporting on the lengths at the Trump campaign went to try to get dirt on Hillary Clinton through her infamous emails. What more can you tell us?</s>SCIUTTO: Well, potentially more than dirt here. This is Joseph Schmitz. He was a foreign policy adviser to President Trump during the campaign for a number of months, not an insignificant adviser. He was there with that famous meeting pictured there in March 2016. But he was a former Defense Department Official in the Bush Administration, he was considered for Secretary of Navy after President Trump was elected. He obtains what he believes to be the deleted Hillary Clinton emails from the dark web. And relentlessly, we are told by multiple sources he goes to multiple U.S. agencies, including the FBI, the State Department, the Intelligence Community, later the House Intelligence Committee, saying -- pushing for these emails to be declassified, so that they could be reviewed, and potentially disseminated. He is not taken very seriously at each of the agencies. In fact, they didn't want to touch this material because they doubted the providence coming from the dark web, weren't sure who had made it. And frankly, had a lot of doubt as to whether those emails were authentic, but he was relentless. And then you look at this, not just an isolations, but alongside other efforts by Trump campaign advisers who were open to, it appeared any way to get to damaging information on Hillary Clinton, regardless of where it came from. The Trump Tower meeting in 2016, Donald Trump Jr. saying I love it, when Russians said that they had dirt on Hillary Clinton regardless of what that potential dirt was, or how they got it. George Papadopoulos bragging to an Australian diplomat that he had been told by a professor connected to Russia that they had dug up stolen Hillary Clinton emails. So fitting into that larger picture, you see a tremendous effort here by Trump advisers to try to get that material regardless of where it came from.</s>LEMON: All right, Jim, thank you. We're done with you. But we're going to stick around, and continue our conversation.</s>SCIUTTO: Thanks.</s>KAYYEM: Good night, Jim.</s>LEMON: Good night, Jim.</s>SCIUTTO: Good night, guys.</s>LEMON: We'll see you on the other side of the break with the rest of the gang. Don't go anywhere.