Trump Attacks Mueller Amid Reports Mueller is Eyeing Tweets; Death Toll in Wildfires Grows, At Least 6 Dead; Trump on Cohen Secret Tape Heard "Get Me a Coke, Please"
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: The president arrived at the White House just a few minutes ago. It's unclear right now if he'll continue his tirade once he settled in for the night. It's also unclear what exactly has set him off. But it could be a number of things, as we've told you. His former attorney and loyal friend Michael Cohen appears to be ready to flip on him. Sources say Cohen is willing to tell Mueller that Trump knew in advance about that infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting, the one with the Russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton. And on top of that the president has learned along with everyone else that Cohen has been secretly recording their private conversations for who knows how long. We played one of those tapes for you last week. It's the one where Trump and Cohen discussed whether to pay off an alleged mistress by cash or check. And today Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani is claiming that tape has been doctored.</s>RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: He abruptly ended that recording as soon as the president said the word check. We are now -- what we're investigating is why did -- how did that happen? What actually did happen? What was eliminated? And then he's got to raise that question with every one of these tapes. How many of them are -- did he play around with? We have determined the fact that he tampered with the tape in the sense that he abruptly mid-conversation turned it off. Now we know he didn't do that for a good reason.</s>CABRERA: CNN White House correspondent Boris Sanchez joins us live from New Jersey where the president spent the weekend. And Boris, let's start with these attacks against Mueller. Walk us through what the president is alleging here.</s>BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Ana, yes, in a series of tweets the president sent out earlier today we saw not only his freshest attacks on the special counsel but his most direct against Robert Mueller. The president calling his investigation illegal and then going on to cite what he perceives as conflicts of interest by the special counsel himself. I'm going to read you a portion of one of his tweets. The president writes, quote, "Is Robert Mueller ever going to release his conflicts of interest with respect to President Trump including the fact that we had a very nasty and contentious business relationship." CNN has reached out to the White House to find out exactly the president meant by a contentious business relationship. The White House has yet to respond. But there is previous reporting out there that may shed some light on what the president is talking about. Earlier this year both the "New York Times" and the "Washington Post" reported that privately the president had expressed frustration with the special counsel, told his own White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller, in part because of a dispute that he claims Robert Mueller had with one of his golf clubs, the one in Virginia, where he says Mueller failed to pay legal fees. Now a source -- a spokesperson for the special counsel told the "Washington Post" at the time that the president's description of that dispute was inaccurate. We should also point out that there was plenty to fact check in these tweets but for the sake of brevity we will just signal that the Department of Justice itself, ethics attorneys for the Department of Justice, have looked into questions of conflict of interest for Robert Mueller, and a spokesperson earlier this year declared that Robert Mueller's involvement in this case is appropriate. Of course the backdrop is what you mentioned, Ana. Not only the revelations coming from sources close to Michael Cohen, that he's ready to testify about that Trump Tower meeting but these recordings that now Rudy Giuliani is questioning the veracity of -- Ana.</s>CABRERA: All right. Boris Sanchez, lots for us to dig into. Thank you for that report. Let's talk about these new attacks against Robert Mueller as well as Giuliani's claim that the Cohen tape was doctored with us. With us, Former Trump White House lawyer James Schultz and former prosecutor Paul Callan. So, Jim, I've got to start with these attacks against Mueller. We learned within the last few days Mueller is actually scrutinizing Trump's tweets as part of his obstruction of justice investigation and yet the president here is tweeting all about him. If you were still a White House lawyer, what would you tell the president right now?</s>JAMES SCHULTZ, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE LAWYER: Look, I've said time and time again, I think the president is well served talking about all the good things that are happening right now with the economy and the tax cuts and regulatory reform and attacking Robert Mueller is not the best use of his time.</s>CABRERA: Does it hurt him?</s>SCHULTZ: I think it just distracts from the good things -- like I said, from the good things that are going on. I don't think it puts him in any more or less legal jeopardy. But it certainly distracts from all the good things that the administration's accomplishing.</s>CABRERA: Paul, a lot of news has broken over the last few days, and to Jim's point there was good economic news on Friday. And yet here goes the president, on this Twitter tirade, on the attack. What do you think set him off?</s>PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's very strange because you would think he'd want to keep the topic on the booming economy, which is a very good story for him. But I think the president has been unnerved by the fact that Michael Cohen, who was as we call him the fixer, and nobody seems to deny that that was his role, is now turning apparently and eager to flip and testify against the president. A lawyer of many years, a personal lawyer like Cohen, would cause anybody I think to be unnerved. And now you see a total change in attitude toward Cohen. A guy who Giuliani had described as truthful and, you know, he was showering him with compliments. Now Giuliani is --</s>CABRERA: Honorable.</s>CALLAN: Honorable, that's right. And now he's a liar and all kinds of other derogatory terms.</s>CABRERA: Jim, let's talk about Robert Mueller because he's a Republican. He's a Vietnam War hero, a former FBI director in both a Republican as well as a Democratic administration. He's just doing his job right now. Michael Cohen is the one who supposedly betrayed Trump. Giuliani compared him to Brutus. So why is Trump then trying to discredit Mueller instead of Cohen?</s>SCHULTZ: I think it's just a continuing theme of attacking the investigation, trying to push along that there was no collusion. And it's the president's right to do that. To turn around and claim that there was no collusion. The personal attacks on Mueller, again, I think they're a distraction from the good things that are going on. And as it relates to Michael Cohen, certainly he has his own legal jeopardy at this point in time as well.</s>CABRERA: Is the president in legal jeopardy because of what we've learned through Cohen's lawyer this week, through sources about what Cohen may be prepared to testify about, including that Trump Tower meeting saying that Trump knew about that in advance?</s>SCHULTZ: Well, I think it's way too soon to speculate on any of that. Largely because we don't know what Cohen has to say. I mean, the fact that they released that tape this week and we heard that tape, it was a tape quite frankly that wasn't -- the audio was not very good on it. There's questions on both sides as to what was said, who actually released the tape, whether there was a violation of attorney-client privilege as a result of it. All these things are big questions at this point in time.</s>CALLAN: But, you know, Jim, I think what really is amazing about the whole thing is given all of those problems with the tape, and I agree with you that they were there, why did they waive attorney-client privilege and release the tape? Because they did it because they thought the tape backed up the president. And now Giuliani is saying the tape has been tampered with, the tape is fraudulent and Cohen's a fraud. So the president is not being well served by this defense, which changes the storyline every other day.</s>CABRERA: What do you think about that?</s>SCHULTZ: Well, I'm not sure if the --</s>CABRERA: I mean, Giuliani -- the president's team waived that attorney-client privilege. This was a tape that was supposed to not be available as part of the investigation.</s>SCHULTZ: There's a real question as to whether they went to the special master and asked for that -- that hasn't become public one way or the other at this point in time, whether informed consent occurred as it related to that tape and who released the tape. It was a chicken and egg issue there. But nonetheless, the tape is public and now that the tape is public certainly Giuliani's going to want to defend the president as it relates to the contents of that tape. No question.</s>CABRERA: But Jim, we have confirmed that the president's legal team did waive attorney-client privilege for that tape. You're right, as far as it being out in public, that's one thing. But they waived attorney-client privilege and allowed that to be -- be put forward as evidence as part of this investigation into Michael Cohen. They thought it was going to be exculpatory, remember?</s>SCHULTZ: If they did, they did. And if they waived it, then that's -- then the result is the fact that the tape's out there anyway. So -- for everyone to hear. So the result is still the same. I think at the end of the day, though, the bottom line is there's no indication that there was ever a payment made. So it's much ado about nothing as it relates to the tape because no actual payment was made as a result of those conversations. At least that's what we know today.</s>CABRERA: I want you guys to listen to Rudy Giuliani this morning trying to discredit Cohen.</s>GIULIANI: He's destroyed himself, Chris, as a witness. I've prosecuted, you know, 5,000 cases. I'd never prosecute a case on this guy's testimony. First of all, he talks to the press. He may be taping me. Second, he's contradicted so many times that, I mean, you begin your cross-examination by saying which set of lies are you going to tell us today, Michael? Let's go through them now.</s>CABRERA: Paul, does Giuliani have a point?</s>CALLAN: Well, no. You don't -- I mean, you don't criticize the other side by saying he's talking to the press while you're talking to the press. You know, I mean, seriously. The -- you know, I don't think -- I think that Giuliani thought and had vetted Cohen. He had met Cohen and Cohen had represented the president for a long time. So you would think when Giuliani went out and started praising the honesty of Cohen that would have been based on some kind of reasonable lawyer's investigation. And now a week later he says the guy's a liar. So, you know, I don't think Giuliani's doing much of a job for the president with respect to Michael Cohen.</s>CABRERA: Jim, I'll give you the final thought.</s>SCHULTZ: Well, I think he has done a complete 180 on Cohen. The fact that Cohen's taping -- I've been a lawyer a long time. I've never taped one conversation with any of my clients. That's certainly an oddity at best as it relates to the practice of law. It's lawful to do in New York. No question about that. Because all you need is one side to consent to that. But certainly it's not something that a lawyer typically does in the common practice.</s>CALLAN: And it's a violation of the ethical rules for lawyers in New York. He could be disbarred for doing it. It may not be a crime in New York, but it is improper conduct even in New York.</s>CABRERA: Important last point there. Paul Callan, Jim Schultz, thank you both. Appreciate your legal expertise. Coming up, the death toll rises as monster wildfires spread across California. Hundreds of homes are destroyed. Thousands are threatened and people have died in all of this. CNN is on the ground. We'll be right back.