Kim Jong Un's Ex- Top Spy to Deliver Letter to Trump Tomorrow; Audio Captures Michael Cohen's Angry Legal Threats Protecting Trump.
BLITZER: Tonight, Michael Cohen's bareknuckle tactics in defense of Donald Trump captured on recordings that have just been made public. The president's lawyer going after a news organization back in 2015 with legal threats and rather foul language. Our national correspondent, Brynn Gingras, is joining us right now. Brynn, tell us more about these recordings.</s>GINGRAS: Yes, Wolf. This is why this is significant. This is the first time we are hearing Michael Cohen's voice on tape making threats, as it -- as it's been widely reported he would often do as the president's personal attorney. But let me give you some context. This was a recording from a July 2015 call between Cohen and Tim Mack, who was a "Daily Beast" reporter at the time, now currently with NPR. And Mack, who I spoke with today on the phone, said he recorded the conversation. He said the decision to release this audio today came after discussions in NPR's newsroom about Cohen's pattern of threats. Take a listen.</s>COHEN (via phone): You run this story with Trump's name with the word "rape," and I'll mess your life up, for the rest, for as long as you're on this frigging planet. I'm going to turn around, and you're going to have judgements against you for so much money, you'll never know how to get from underneath it.</s>GINGRAS: All right. What's that threat about? In 2015, Mack reached out to Cohen for comment on a story "The Daily Beast" was running about a rape accusation Ivana Trump made in divorce proceedings about Donald Trump. She later walked back this claim. And after the "Daily Beast" story was published, Ivana told CNN the story was without merit. On the recording, though, you hear Cohen speaking as an employee of the Trump Organization, telling Mack you could not legally rape your spouse, a comment he ultimately apologized for making. Now, there's seven minutes of audio that were published today by NPR. Mak said he can't remember how long the conversation lasted but characterized it as starting off reasonable and escalating. Something referenced in the recording. Here's some more.</s>MICHAEL COHEN, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S LAWYER: I am warning you, tread very</s>GINGRAS: Mak says neither Cohen nor his attorneys have responded for comment to this audio being released today. But back in 2015, Cohen characterized his words as inarticulate, and saying Mak's questions sent him into a tail spin. Now, we also reached out to Michael Cohen for comment today, but we haven't heard back -- Wolf.</s>BLITZER: All right. Brynn, thank you. Brynn Gingras in New York. There's more breaking news tonight: America's top diplomat says real progress has been made in the last 72 hours for reviving the U.S., North Korea summit. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meeting with Kim Jong-un's former right hand man and former spy chief in New York City. Kim Yong-chol is expected to deliver a letter from North Korea's dictator to President Trump at the White House tomorrow. Let's go to our senior diplomatic correspondent Michelle Kosinski. She's joining us from New York. Michelle, so, where do things stand right now?</s>MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, these talks were to determine whether a Trump/Kim summit could be possible. But it's still unclear whether it is. Today, Pompeo said that there were some progress made in setting the conditions for such a discussion. But we don't really know the outcome of that. He wouldn't really go any further into detail. So, whether it will happen or not I guess we'll know in coming days. Also, the U.S. is looking for some big gesture towards denuclearization by North Korea as part of a Trump/Kim summit. But all that Secretary of State Pompeo could say is that North Korea was contemplating a shift in strategy.</s>KOSINSKI (voice-over): Kim Jong-un's right-hand man after two days of meetings with Secretary of State Pompeo in New York will now head for the White House. Tomorrow, they'll hand deliver a letter from Kim Jong-un to President Trump.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A letter will be delivered to me from Kim Jong-un, so I look forward to seeing what's in the letter, but it's very important to them.</s>KOSINSKI: This as Pompeo met with North Korea's vice chairman, Kim Yong-chol, attempting to seal the deal for a Trump-Kim summit which today he still called a proposed summit, and trying to convince North Korea that it's more secure without nuclear weapons. All in today's meeting that ended two hours before it was scheduled to. The State Department says that's because it went so well.</s>MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: The conditions are, putting President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un in a place where we think there could be real progress made by the two meeting. It does no good if we're in a place where we don't think there's real opportunity to place them together. We made real progress towards that in the last 72 hours.</s>KOSINSKI: But Pompeo gave no detail on whether the Trump/Kim summit will happen or when we will know that, or how much the North Koreans are willing to give up, insisting that the U.S. demands complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization.</s>POMPEO: I believe they are contemplating a path forward where they can make a strategic shift, one that their country has not been prepared to make before. This is going to be a process that will take days and weeks to work our way through.</s>KOSINSKI: Kim Yong-chol arrived last night to New York, his first ever trip to the United States. And photos released by the State Department, Secretary Pompeo showed him the skyline and exchanged pleasantries over a dinner of American steak. But the other stakes, as in all that could be gained or lost were also sky high, the goals broad. The U.S. wants to see the North Koreans do something historic, something they have never done before to show they are serious about denuclearization and commit to it before meeting with Trump. That could mean giving up some of their nuclear arsenal or ballistic missile program.</s>JUNG PAK, THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I think Kim Yong-chol is going to dangle just enough in front of Secretary Pompeo so that Pompeo can return to Trump and say that everything is fine and that the summit can go ahead.</s>KOSINSKI: Also in Pyongyang today, meeting with Kim Jong-un, the Russian foreign minister, who said denuclearization should be phased in with sanctions starting to be lifted for North Korea, the opposite of the plan the U.S. wants. It's not clear how much Kim will budge on that as he praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for standing up to, quote, U.S. domination. But, both Trump and Pompeo say meetings have been going well, things progressing. The president is still hedging.</s>TRUMP: It's all a process. We'll see. And hopefully, we'll have a meeting on the 12th, that's going along very well. But I want it to be meaningful. It doesn't mean it gets all done at one meeting, maybe you have to have a second or third, and maybe we'll have none. But it's in good hands, that I can tell you.</s>KOSINSKI: It doesn't seem at this point that the U.S. has gotten a solid commitment from North Korea towards denuclearization. And Secretary Pompeo said today there's still a great deal of work to be done, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Michelle Kosinski reporting for us -- thank you. Just ahead: Will the House Intelligence Committee chairman lose his seat in Congress? We'll have the latest on his primary battle and the backlash for his defense of President Trump.