Trump Vacillates on Terror Suspect; Trump Blasts Criminal Justice System; Trump on Russia Investigation.
CUOMO: President Trump commenting again on the terror attack in New York City amid concerns that he is politicizing the issue, and he is. But his latest tweets recognize that the facts don't support his furor. The idea that sending a terror suspect to Gitmo sounds good, sounds harsh, but it's also unrealistic. And he says that now. He uses that word. The president, though, also looks at the criminal justice system that he says should prosecute this man and calls it a joke and a laughingstock. President Trump, though, however, is saying at least the New York suspect should be tried here. He also says he should be executed, something prosecutors didn't want to hear because it can taint a jury. Joining us now is Republican Congressman Peter King of New York. Always good to see you, sir. You doing well?</s>REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: I'm doing fine, Chris. How about you?</s>CUOMO: All right. Thank God. All good. Let me ask you this. These comments, the turnabout at least about Gitmo, you know the numbers. In no way I'm going to condescend to you about this. You know your facts. You know that the prosecutions are better off in our federal system. You know Gitmo is no expedient machine. Are you happy that the president turned around on that and is at least partially embracing the federal system?</s>KING: I am in this case (ph). Now, I'm not the person who's opposed to Guantanamo. I think in some cases, especially when a person is captured overseas --</s>CUOMO: Sure.</s>KING: Where there's a certain (ph) advantage to go to Guantanamo as far as being able to get information without having to necessarily give all the rights that a person would have if they're a U.S. citizen or here actually in the U.S. itself. But, no, in this case I think that -- all it would do is delay it on and on. And I think, again, the southern district of New York is extremely efficient. The evidence is there. And, to me, it's the right thing to do and to go ahead. As far as, you know, talking about capital punishment, I understand why, as a human being from his gut, the president felt this way. But, again, I go back to the days of Richard Nixon where he called Charles Manson a murderer during the trial and almost caused a mistrial. Presidents have to realize that whatever they say can be used by the defense council to either cause a mistrial or to have the trial delayed.</s>CUOMO: Now, we just had Speaker Ryan walk behind you and he is somebody who has been conspicuously quiet about what the president does. You, at least, have taken the opportunity to talk to us on camera. We appreciate that. So, let me ask you, do you believe that our justice system is a joke? You're a world traveler. Do people say it's a laughingstock?</s>KING: No, they don't. I would say, again, there's criticism here on both sides. When you have people from the left who talk about how it's so pro-police and it's anti-minority, people on the right who say that it's -- you know, it's a giveaway to terrorists. No. With all its faults, and we do have faults, it is by far the best legal system in the world. I haven't practiced law in many years, but I can tell you, the adversarial system and the judicial system, the jury system, it's a great check on power. And it's a -- it does protect peoples' rights, but it also gets the job done. And, again, on terrorist cases, certainly in New York, they've got excellent results. From the Chelsea (ph) bomber from last year, again, that's already gone to trial. So, no, this is -- we have the best system in the world.</s>CUOMO: Right. So if he's wrong on the facts, and he is impugning the integrity of our justice system, shouldn't that be called out by other elected leaders?</s>KING: Well, listen, I basically support the president on some of his key issues. But I think on this it is important for me, as an American, as a member of Congress to say, you know, our imperfections in the legal system, I can disagree with Supreme Court decisions, I can disagree with decisions by prosecutors. I think sometime prosecutors go too far. Sometimes defense councils will too far. But, again, in the human system, it -- with all the imperfections we have as human beings the -- as your father, who served, would have said over the year (ph), this is the best system we could ever have. It allows for human imperfection. And it does its best to control it and to restrain it and to channel it toward justice.</s>CUOMO: So, let me ask you something. We're looking at this Russia investigation You've seen the first indictments. The surprise, obviously, was Papadopoulos cutting a deal because he lied. We could put up a graphic, if we wanted to. You have, including family members, about have a dozen people who have materially mislead about meetings with Russians, with different degrees of severity to what that could mean to an investigator. We have them on the screen right now. In your estimation, does this have nothing to do with the campaign in light of what we've learned so far? Do you think that's a fair statement to say, this has nothing to do with the campaign?</s>KING: Well, the Manafort indictment has nothing to do with it. And, again, I'm on the Intelligence Committee. I have to watch how I say this because we're doing the investigation. I have seen no evidence yet indicating any collusion. You could have people saying misstatements</s>CUOMO: Congressman King, thank you for taking the opportunity to talk about it with us.</s>KING: Thank you, Chris.</s>CUOMO: It is not that common these days. You're always welcome here.</s>KING: Well, you know, us guys from Queens, it's the way we talk, you know.</s>CUOMO: It's true. It's true. You're -- you got a better head of hair, but otherwise we're from the same place. You be well, sir.</s>KING: And you're better looking than your brother. So, there you go.</s>CUOMO: Oh, that's a low bar, but true. But very true. All right.</s>KING: OK.</s>CUOMO: There's a lot of news for you this morning. We're going to get after it. CNN "NEWSROOM" with John Berman, the stronger part of the team is sitting next to me, but he'll pick it up right after the break.</s>HARLOW: You just like the brother</s>CUOMO: Oh, absolutely.