Senate Intel Staff Questions Trump Jr. for 5 Hours; American Stranded in Turks And Caicos As Irma Moves In
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We're going to get back to our breaking hurricane coverage in just a moment, including a new track on its path to Florida. First, though, a remarkable day in Washington, as the president held a joint news conference with a world leader, his eldest son underwent questioning by staffers from the -- from a Senate committee and this is a session that lasted for five hours. The focus was his June 2016 meeting with Russian operatives at Trump Tower and we now have Donald Junior's statement to the panel. I'm going to quote the part explaining why he decided to attend this meeting, which promised damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Quote, to the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character, or qualifications of a presidential candidate, I believed that I should at least hear them out. Depending on what if any information they had, I could then consult with counsel to make an informed decision as to whether to give it further consideration. I have with me now CNN political director David Chalian and CNN legal analyst Michael Zeldin, he used to be special assistant to Robert Mueller, who is now leading the Russia investigation. OK, David, so, when you're looking at what has come out of this meeting between Don Junior and congressional staff, this was something, right, that committee members were privy to but it was the staff that was conducting the interview. What really stands out to you?</s>DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: First and foremost, what stands out is Donald Trump Jr. has just made clear that this whole notion that the meeting was about adoptions, which is what we initially heard from the Trump team when this was first reported, that there was this meeting in June 2016 at Trump Tower, that is so out the window. That was just completely not true. This clearly, as Don Junior made clear today, before the staff, this was about trying to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. The other thing, Brianna, is that you recall at the time when this meeting became known and public, a couple months ago, everybody on the Trump team, including the president himself, said, this is a meeting anyone would have taken in politics. You always take meetings to get research on your opponent. Republicans and Democrats alike, as you know from campaigns you've covered, they said, that's not true.</s>KEILAR: You vet them.</s>CHALIAN: Right. And Donald Trump Jr. apparently had an initial concern, conflict, suspicion, lining up to talk to counsel afterwards as you just read in that quote to vet this material, so clearly there were questions in his mind about this meeting. It is not as simple as just a meeting anybody would have taken.</s>KEILAR: And why not maybe talk to counsel ahead of time, too? I think some people would ask that question. Michael Zeldin, any legal concerns arising from what we're hearing coming out of this briefing that Donald Junior gave staff members of this committee?</s>MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. As I read the statement, and then I see the CNN reporting on what was alleged to have taken place during the meeting, a couple things strike me. First is, the statement has a lot of, "I don't recalls," in it, which is very lawyerly to protect your client should he have a different story at a future date. He could say, oh, yes, now I remember. So, there's some covering his legal behind in this statement. I also think that it's problematic to me that what he doesn't recall in this is whether his father participated in the writing of the initial statement, which turned out to be untruthful, whether or not there were documents that were left for him at the meeting, which are significant, and what, if anything, he told his father after the meeting. He said he didn't do it. It's hard to really reconcile that with the way Trump runs his business and his political affairs. So, I think there's a lot of -- a lot in here that will make Mueller worried about whether or not he has a truthful witness in front of him who is cooperating or whether he's got somebody who has to be looked at for false statements.</s>KEILAR: And David, the more believable the I do not recalls would be if he's actually recalling things from the meeting. That was a year ago. But when it comes to this issue of what was the White House involvement in the response, I mean, that was not long ago at all. Does that create problems here?</s>CHALIAN: And it's probably like the largest PR crisis Donald Trump Jr. himself has ever faced so you think you might recall that. But I think what this really goes to the heart of, as we know, Bob Mueller is looking into a potential obstruction of justice case, and I think the key about building what is the truthful account of how the response was crafted when this meeting was becoming public, that is why Mueller's team wants to know that. I know he was before the Senate today, but the key being Mueller's investigation. That's why they want to know that. They want to be able to see if there's a credible obstruction of justice case to be built in some way and this is an important piece of evidence, potentially, towards that.</s>KEILAR: Michael, is there another way for investigators to figure out the involvement of the White House, or is Don Junior really the only one who can help answer that question?</s>ZELDIN: Well, there is a grand jury that can subpoena people to testify before it. We understand from the communications from the plane flying back from Germany, the Air Force One flight, that Hope Hicks and the president and Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner and Don Junior by phone were all involved in the crafting of the response to the meeting. And so, all these people are subject to examination in a grand jury, and they could set up contradictory testimony points among them. As well, I think the important thing here in terms of the possible obfuscation by Don Junior is he says, I love it. It was just a colloquial way of saying thank you, but I love it is followed by, especially later in the summer. So that's not a colloquial way of saying thank you. That's especially important because it relates to the distribution of information and you have to remember that Don Junior has this meeting, then thereafter his father says, you should expect dirt on Hillary Clinton, which is the hacked emails, so these things are important to line up next to each other and right now, for me, they don't line up in a coherent and truthful manner.</s>KEILAR: All right, Michael, David, thank you to both of you. I want to go back to our breaking coverage of Hurricane Irma. Distressing images from damage in the Virgin Islands. It's becoming a cautionary tale for those who are in Irma's immediate path. The eye of this extremely dangerous hurricane is now moving closer to Turks and Caicos, that island's main airport has only one terminal which makes it nearly impossible for tourists to find last-minute flights and evacuate. Joining me now on the phone is one of those American tourists who is stranded on the main island. Niki Paris is from Atlanta. Tell us where you are right now, what the storm is like so far.</s>NIKI PARIS, AMERICAN TOURIST STRANDED ON TURKS AND CAICOS: OK. We are -- I'm with my friend Donna Smith and we are at a hotel called Seven Stars. We're looking outside and it is wild out there. It's been raining. The trees are blowing. The hotel, I think, has done a really good job. We're actually staying in a villa but when this happened, we tried to get out of Turks and Caicos and we could not get out. We were at the airport yesterday for eight hours trying to get a flight anywhere. But could not get a flight, Delta did not send any other flights in and that was who our carrier was so we couldn't get out, so we got a room at a place called the Seven Stars. They're doing a great job and making us feel as safe as they can. They've got mattresses in the hallways and water. They're feeding us, you know, we're in a room right now, but they've said that when it hits, we have to get out of the room, then it's best for us to go into the hallways and just stay there. So, you know, they're doing a great job, but it's scary.</s>KEILAR: It just so happens I've stayed at that hotel in Turks and Caicos and you are rather lucky because it is multiple stories and it's sturdy so you have that advantage. But you said you were in a villa, right? There's a lot of lower-lying areas and that's probably the concern that you, even from that hotel, there -- you will be able to see a lot of folks, a lot of buildings that are lower that are damaged, right?</s>KEILAR: Right. I agree. And we were told we could stay in the villa. We chose not to and I'm glad we didn't because once we finished at the airport, trying to get out and couldn't, we've been back to the villa to get some things and they had moved -- they had taken all the mattresses off the beds, it was up against the windows, the furniture was turned over. They had put the furniture from the outside into the pool, which is what I understand now that they do just to try to keep it and they basically, I mean, everybody was gone. So, I am so glad that we decided to not stay there. Because as scary as this is, I feel like this hotel is really taking really good care of us.</s>KEILAR: All right, well, we are thinking of you, Niki Paris there in Turks and Caicos as you're taking cover from Hurricane Irma. We'll be checking back in with you as you go through this to see how things are going. Thanks for talking to us. Really in the middle of this. Next, we're going to be back live in Florida, millions there are preparing for a potential direct hit from Hurricane Irma.</s>RICK SCOTT, GOVERNOR, FLORIDA: Every Florida family must prepare to evacuate. Regardless of the coast you live on. We do not know exactly where this storm is going.</s>KEILAR: Plus, I'll be speaking live with the head of a zoo in Miami. We have pictures that show what happened to the animals as they rode out Hurricane Andrew in 1992. He's going to explain to us how they're preparing now.