Interview With Rep. Steve Cohen (R-TN); President Trump Now Praising Crowd Who Chanted 'Send Her Back'; Iran Seizes Two Tankers in Strait of Hormuz; House Democrats Holding Mock Hearings, Honing Questions Ahead Of Mueller Testimony
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And defending his supporters who echoed them, even as world leaders condemn his words. Under oath. House Democrats are digging into the Mueller report and holding mock hearings as they gear up for the former special counsel's highly anticipated testimony next week. We are learning new details of the questions they will ask and the answers they're seeking. And under the sun. Warning for almost 200 million Americans tonight, as a brutal wave of extreme heat blazes over much of the U.S., and now more dangerous weather is possible, including tornadoes, thunderstorms, and hail. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Brianna Keilar. You're in</s>THE SITUATION ROOM. ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.</s>KEILAR: The breaking news tonight, Iran seizing at least one oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, sharply escalating tension with the U.S. and Western allies. CNN has learned that members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard boarded a British ship and a Liberian ship 30 minutes apart and that armed American military planes are now protecting U.S. ships in the region. We're also learning new details tonight of House Democrats' intense preparation for next week's testimony by former special counsel Robert Mueller. Sources tell CNN they have been holding mock hearings and honing their questions, in the hopes of shifting public perception of the Russia investigation. We will be talking about the breaking news and more with Congressman Steve Cohen of the Judiciary Committee. And our correspondents and our analysts are also standing by. First, let's get to the latest on the breaking news with CNN chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto. And, Jim, you're learning some new details about Iran's hostilities in one of the world's most important shipping lanes.</s>JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brianna. Here at the Aspen Security Forum, where some of the most senior military commanders, U.S. military commanders, other administration officials, gathered, this news from the Persian Gulf hit with a thud. This is what we know at this hour. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, essentially a paramilitary force of the Iranian regime, boarding two international tankers in international waters around that key choke point of the Strait of Hormuz under arms. They boarded both of these, one a British-flagged vessel, the second a Liberian-flagged vessel. At this hour, that second vessel apparently has been released after a short time, but the British-flagged vessel still in Iranian custody with the sailors on board. They are not British citizens, but a collection of nationalities. At the time that these ships were boarded, a British warship was some 20 miles away, but an escalation of the tensions in the Gulf there after a series of hostile acts -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: And, Jim, how is the U.S. responding to this?</s>SCIUTTO: Well, right now, armed U.S. aircraft are escorting U.S.- flagged tankers through the Persian Gulf, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz, again, that choke point there. Remember, this is part of a pattern of behavior and attacks in recent days and weeks. Of course, you had Iran, they shot down a $110 million U.S. drone a couple of weeks ago. Prior to that, they were also attacking other tankers with explosive devices, according to U.S. intelligence. And now you have this. Earlier today, I had the opportunity to speak to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. This is the intelligence agency that monitors intelligence around the world, supplies that intelligence to the U.S. military. I spoke to the director, General Ashley, and he told me that, in his view, Iran's activity now is at an inflection point. Have a listen to what he said.</s>LT. GEN. ROBERT ASHLEY, DIRECTOR, DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY: They're going into recession, and the glide path that they're on is more of the same. So what is it they have to do to kind of change the status quo, which was to ramp up the level of activity? And we saw this coming a couple weeks out before it happened.</s>SCIUTTO: The strategy here perhaps from Iran to raise oil prices, to create tensions there, nervousness about those tankers, the many tankers, dozens of them going through the Persian Gulf, raise oil prices, put pressure and attempt to create a split between America's European allies and the U.S. But I also asked General Ashley if he believes Iran wants war. His answer to that question was no. But the danger, of course, here, Brianna, is the war that no one wants or the military action that no one wants. Is there an escalation? Is there a misreading of signals? Is a shot fired where someone is injured or killed? That is the danger now. That is the concern -- Brianna.</s>KEILAR: Jim Sciutto in Aspen, thank you so much. Let's go now to CNN senior White House correspondent Pamela Brown. And, Pamela, the president talked about this new aggression by Iran as he was leaving town for his New Jersey golf resort.</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Brianna. President Trump says this latest behavior by Iran proves what he's been saying, that the regime is nothing but trouble. And we have learned from sources that the president has adopted a more hawkish view of Iran in recent days amid the recent tensions. Now, this as the president tries to go back and renew his attack on the so-called Squad, while pivoting away from the criticism of the racist rally chant.</s>BROWN (voice-over): Tonight, President Trump has gone full circle, again defending his racist attack against four congresswomen.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When they call our country garbage, I don't care about politics. I don't care if it's good or bad about politics. You can't talk that way about our country, not when I'm the president.</s>BROWN: And defending his supporters.</s>CROWD: Send her back! Send her back!</s>BROWN: Who chanted "Send her back" at a North Carolina rally.</s>TRUMP: Those people in North Carolina, that stadium was packed. It was a record crowd. And I could have filled it 10 times, as you know. Those are incredible people. Those are incredible patriots.</s>BROWN: This despite concerns raised from aides, including his daughter Ivanka Trump. But, today, the president downplayed their advisement.</s>TRUMP: I talk about it, but they didn't advise me.</s>BROWN: Vice President Pence also taking heat from Republican lawmakers over the inflammatory chant. And there was the president's attempt to clean up on his own yesterday.</s>TRUMP: I was not happy with it. I disagree with it. But, again, I didn't say -- I didn't say that. They did.</s>BROWN: But now Trump is back where he began, retweeting his previous tweets, asking for the congresswomen to apologize to our country and threatening Democrats he will carry this fight to the ballot box in 2020. And after Congresswoman Ilhan Omar returned to Minnesota yesterday for a town hall...</s>REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): ... it sure feels good to be home. We are going to continue to be a nightmare to this president, because his policies are a nightmare to us.</s>BROWN: ... Trump tweeting today that the welcome was a -- quote -- "staged crowd."</s>TRUMP: I'm unhappy when a congresswoman goes and says I'm going to be the president's nightmare. She's going to be the president's nightmare. She's lucky to be where she is, let me tell you. And the things that she has said are a disgrace to our country.</s>BROWN: The chant fallout spreading to the international stage too, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel telling reporters:</s>ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): I distance myself from this decidedly and stand in solidarity with the women who were attacked.</s>BROWN: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau denouncing the comments.</s>JUSTIN TRUDEAU, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: I want everyone in Canada to know that those comments are completely unacceptable.</s>BROWN: And British Prime Minister Theresa May also calling Trump's language completely unacceptable.</s>TRUMP: Hopefully, we're in good shape on the debt ceiling.</s>BROWN: The president tonight also taking a firm stance on the debt ceiling, telling reporters Democratic leadership shouldn't use it to negotiate.</s>TRUMP: I can't imagine anybody ever even thinking of using the debt ceiling as a negotiating wedge. That's a sacred element of our country. They can't use the debt ceiling to negotiate.</s>BROWN: Changing his tune from 2013, when President Obama was the one facing a debt ceiling crisis.</s>TRUMP: The debt ceiling is a very powerful weapon. Oh, I think they should play the debt ceiling card. It's a very powerful card.</s>BROWN: Now, Brianna, looking ahead to next week, with the highly anticipated congressional testimony of Robert Mueller, the former special counsel, President Trump says he won't be watching it. But even if he doesn't, Brianna, I'm told White House staffers will be watching it so that they can brief the president on any highlights -- back to you.</s>KEILAR: All right, CNN's Pamela Brown, thank you. And House Democrats are engaged in intense preparations for that highly anticipated public testimony by former special counsel Robert Mueller. CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider is here with the details. And, Jessica, the Democrats really see this as their chance to maybe finally or the only time get Americans fired up about this.</s>JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right. These are two back-to-back high-stakes hearings. And even though special counsel Robert Mueller is a reluctant witness, members of these committees note that Congress isn't necessarily bound by the limits that Mueller might try to impose. Now, as such, Democrats really want to seize the moment to highlight key portions of Mueller's report, including five areas where they think the president clearly obstructed justice.</s>SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Tonight, Democrats are undergoing intense prep, plotting pointed lines of questioning for former special counsel Robert Mueller for the few hours they will be able to grill him. Democrats want to seize on Mueller's in-person appearance, hoping to shift public perception and hammer home the stark conclusions of the special counsel's 448-page report that most Americans haven't read.</s>ROBERT MUELLER, RUSSIA PROBE SPECIAL COUNSEL: I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.</s>SCHNEIDER: Mueller has indicated he will let the report speak for itself. But Democrats aren't deterred. Sources tell CNN congressional Democrats have been holding mock hearings with senior aides playing Mueller to sharpen their questions ahead of the back-to-back grillings. Lawmakers are also rereading the report.</s>MUELLER: The attorney general's the boss. Absolutely, I would discuss it with the attorney general.</s>SCHNEIDER: And staffers are studying Mueller's past congressional appearances. The Judiciary Committee plans to focus on obstruction of justice, while House intelligence will follow with questions on Russian election interference. Judiciary Democrats will connect the dots of what Mueller laid out on obstruction, focusing on five key episodes, Trump's direction to White House counsel Don McGahn to fire the special counsel, Trump's then telling McGahn to publicly deny that account, Trump's direction to former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to tell former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the investigation to exclude Trump and focus only on future campaigns. Trump's follow-up to Lewandowski to tell Sessions Trump would fire him if he didn't meet with Lewandowski, and Trump's alleged witness tampering of Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen and others, encouraging them not to cooperate, dangling pardons, and congratulating Manafort for not flipping.</s>ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: If you just list those off, one, two, three, four, five, you can essentially make it clear to the public and to Congress that Mueller found substantial evidence to charge obstruction.</s>SCHNEIDER: Republicans plan to press the special counsel about whether his team was biased.</s>REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): We have got a lot of questions about how Robert Mueller's team was assembled.</s>SCHNEIDER: And probe why the investigation even started in the first place.</s>REP. DOUG COLLINS (R-GA): Some basic questions of understanding a conclusion, you have got to understand where it started.</s>SCHNEIDER: Little has been released about how the special counsel, Robert Mueller, is preparing, though, if past is prologue, he's more than ready.</s>ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER ACTING FBI DIRECTOR: Director Mueller will be impeccably prepared. That is part of his strength as a witness. I remember those sessions. They were kind of legendary. The hallway that led to his office on the seventh floor would be lined on both sides with briefing teams. He is very studious. He's not a verbose and dramatic witness. But he knows his stuff.</s>SCHNEIDER: And we also know that Democratic staffers are preparing a carefully tailored script to split up those questions among members, all in an effort to present a cohesive narrative that will illuminate the key details and then catch the average American's ear. But, Brianna, some Democrats are worrying that maybe some will go off- script, not stick to that strict narrative, and possibly muddle the message. But we will see when this high-stakes hearing, the set of hearings, happens next Wednesday.</s>KEILAR: All right, Jessica Schneider, thank you so much. Let's get more on all this with Democratic Congressman Steve Cohen of Tennessee. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee. And I do want to ask you about this upcoming Mueller testimony. First, though, Iran has now seized a British tanker. This is an important American ally. What does the U.S. need to do?</s>REP. STEVE COHEN (D-TN): Well, what we need to do is get back in the Iran nuclear agreement. We never should have left it, and now we're talking about getting back in it in the same basis that we were in it, which is Trump saying, I want to get out of what Obama did, but now I want to get in to do what Obama did. Trump has been very inconsistent in his policies. I'm sure the Iranians aren't quite sure what he's doing either. The British and the Iranians are at it. It's a difficult situation that could result in some unfortunate activities, including war. But we don't have a president we can trust. We don't have a president that we know, when he tells us something, that it's the truth. So, it's difficult for me to make a statement without having some confidential hearings from some people in intelligence that I respect and trust.</s>KEILAR: I want to talk about this preparation for the Mueller testimony. Your committee is focused on the obstruction portion of the Mueller report. Intel is focused on the Russian meddling. There are five incidents of alleged obstruction, potential obstruction you that want to highlight. Why zero in on this? What is the strategy?</s>COHEN: There are about 10 instances of obstruction that are cited in the Mueller report. I think five are the ones that counsel think are the most likely to be locked down, where Mueller will say, yes, all the elements were met and, yes, they are there. There might be others. And when you read the report, the other five are also good cases. There was just a smorgasbord of obstruction by Trump, whether asking staff to lie for him, whether asking staff to do deeds that were obstructive, and asking Mueller to resign, or asking Sessions to unrecuse himself, dangling pardons before Manafort, dangling a pardon before Michael Cohen at one time. He tried to obstruct justice. Why was he obstructing justice is a good question for the American people to ponder. If he didn't do anything wrong with the Russians, if he didn't do anything wrong in the election, if the meeting in Trump Tower was all innocent and about adoptions, why would he and all of his people lie about activities with Russia? Flynn lied about activities with Russia. So you have got obstruction. And you have got issues that Intelligence is going to get into, the Intel Committee, concerning Russia. And I think maybe one of our members will too, because she has a particular expertise there. But the Mueller report is a strong condemnation of the actions of the president of the United States and strong report on what Russia did to interfere with the election in 2016 and turn it towards Donald Trump. And Donald Trump went on television and said, "Russia, if you're listening," and said, "I love WikiLeaks." Donald Trump encouraged and accepted and did not report Russian activity.</s>KEILAR: You each only have a few minutes really to ask questions. And because of that, the committee is trying to build between each of the Democratic members of Congress, so that this isn't just the same questions asked over and over. I understand you're planning to ask a few of your own questions, though. What do you say to Democrats who are concerned about members going off-script and not using that time effectively to build on the previous member?</s>COHEN: I'm going to use my time to effectively build on the previous member and to effectively set up the next member.</s>KEILAR: So you don't have any questions? You're sort of playing just on the team, or do you have some specific questions personally you that think are important for you to ask?</s>COHEN: We're all on the team. I have been on the team for 13 years. I have asked and will ask pertinent, important and appropriate questions that will help the team.</s>KEILAR: It is odd actually to see this kind of strategy. We don't see this every day. We don't see this with every hearing. Why has the committee decided this is so important?</s>COHEN: Is that kind of a Passover riff? Why is this hearing different from all other hearings? Well, we did prepare...</s>KEILAR: Well, there have been a number -- I mean, not to say that this hearing isn't more important than others, but there are many important hearings, and yet we don't see this strategy.</s>COHEN: That's just a Jewish joke. It's just -- it's a Jewish joke. It went over. I'm sorry.</s>KEILAR: It did.</s>COHEN: But, yes, there's -- but, anyway, neither here nor there. We did prepare for a previous hearing in a similar manner, and we stayed on our method and our course, and we were successful. And it wasn't covered as well by the networks. But we did that.</s>KEILAR: Does Robert Mueller, does he need to go beyond the scope of his report?</s>COHEN: He says he won't. He probably won't. There might be a few places where he will. I don't know. There's a few places where I think he should. But we will find out. That's why we're going to have...</s>KEILAR: Is it necessary, do you think, for him to go beyond the scope of the report to make more Americans take notice of what's in the report?</s>COHEN: Not to make people more notice of what's in the report. The people don't know what is in the report. They heard a month of stonewalling and lying by Barr and Trump and trying to say no obstruction, no collusion, when, in fact, he specifically said he couldn't clear him of obstruction and if he could say didn't commit a crime, they would have said it. And there are elements of obstruction in those -- at least those five cases, if not more. And Mueller will talk about that. And that's important, because the American public only heard Barr's four -- three-and-a-half-page summary that he came up with and used his own perverted and contorted legal theory on obstruction, a very, very minority theory. And he applied it. And he jumped into the breach and decided at the last minute a man who hadn't been involved in the special counsel's investigation and probably hadn't completely read it and understood it to jump in and give the summary and the analysis. And then Trump did it. And every time he had a chance to go before the reporters, the reporters got him every chance he can, and he went no collusion, no obstruction, that's what it says. And then, even when he released the report, Barr gave a press conference two or three hours before the report was released and said the same hocum. So this was set up, staged to deceive and mislead the American public. And Robert Mueller needs to set the course straight. And, hopefully, it will be an important day that people will listen to, get the news, and understand that the Mueller report is an indictment, truly an indictment of our president, even though, legally, he cannot be indicted.</s>KEILAR: Congressman Steve Cohen, thank you for joining us.</s>COHEN: You're welcome. Sorry about Passover, but it's just the way I think.</s>KEILAR: That's OK. All right, thank you so much, sir.</s>KEILAR: And we have some more breaking news ahead, a new forecast for deadly high temperatures gripping much of the country tonight. Plus, more on Iran's seizure of a British oil tanker and what the U.S. is doing to protect American ships tonight.