Trump Speaks at Luncheon with U.N. Secretary-General
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Michael Cohen being questioned by investigators from the Senate Intelligence and he released a statement that all of us have read by now and they said he will come back another time in open session. Do you understand why these Senate Intelligence investigators wouldn't at least want to question him behind closed doors for a few hours?</s>SUSAN HENNESSEY, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY & LEGAL ANALYT: My best guess is they came to them as a matter of courtesy. Cohen was not going to speak to the media. Those are the rules of the road. It's important to have mutual trust and voluntary conversations. And for Cohen to breech it right out of the gate, you can see how he will be interested in open testimony. That makes them far more accessible and it's reasonable for them to say the ground rules.</s>BLITZER: Showing pictures of a luncheon the U.N. Secretary-General is hosting for a lot of world leaders, including the president of the United States. You understand why they wouldn't at least want to take advantage of Michael Cohen and question him for four or five hours and he may not be under oath and you cannot lie to a Senate committee. If you do, that's perjury.</s>MICHAEL ZELDIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: That's right. I would say let's go forward. He did breech the protocol that is wrong, but we have him here. He has important information to tell us about Trump's Russia doles for the Trump Moscow property. Let's get it and say to him later, do you that again to us and there will be more consequences for you.</s>BLITZER: Surprising to me, too. David, I assume to you too. They have a million questions they want to ask him about Donald Trump and the campaign and Russian medaling and what were you doing trying to build Trump Tower in Moscow in the middle of the campaign? You think they would want to get the answers and say you know what, he released a statement saying he didn't do anything wrong.</s>DAVID GREGORY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: He is trying to influence the news coverage and you can't see the questions he asked. Clearly, they rather than get what usable material they could get, they don't like that being done and would rather force them into open session when he can be cross examined rather than trying to influence the coverage. It gets to how these committees and how open session is used to make arguments about which way the investigation is going or made conclusions about what the facts tell us.</s>BLITZER: Usually, they want to have closed Sessions and get as much as possible. When their bosses ask questions, they will do a better job at open session. We can get into the nuances of this down the road.</s>ZELDIN: His counsel would tell himself he is putting himself in jeopardy if he violates the protocols agreed to. Apparently, counsel felt otherwise.</s>BLITZER: Guys, thanks very much. The president of the United States is at a luncheon hosted by the U.N. secretary-general. We will see if they say anything and continue to monitor that. We heard the president's tough speech. In fact, he is speaking right now, we are told. Let's listen in as they look like they will raise glasses and have a toast.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary-General. I have to say that as someone born and raised in New York it is a great honor to have the United Nations in New York and always has been. For years, I have been a critic, but I have also been somebody that said that the United Nations has tremendous potential. Under your leadership, and I have seen what you have done and working with Nikki Haley -- and she made so many friends here and Rex Tillerson has been a fixture here. We are working very hard to solve world problems. But there is no better forum and can be no better forum and certainly there can be no better location where everybody comes together. I want to congratulate you. The word is potential. The potential of the United States in terms of what it's done is good, but we can do better. The potential of the United Nations is unlimited. I really believe and I met your representatives and I know you well, you are going to do things that will be epic. I certainly hope you will, but I feel very, very confident. I want to toast everybody in the room. Let's give this as a toast to the potential, the great, great potential of the United Nations. Thank you all for being here. Thank you very much.</s>BLITZER: There you have it, the president toasting the potential of the United Nations. David Gregory is with us. Normally with a toast like that, they raise their glasses and there is a round of applause. I didn't hear the applause.</s>GREGORY: This is a crowd that I don't think the president has won over. He is making an essential point that I think is very much in keeping with his philosophy and some of the criticisms he made with the U.N. overtime. It's very much consistent with a message that brought him into the presidency. I will call the institutions out for not doing a good enough job and not pulling their weight if it has to do with NATO in terms of the percentage of their defense budget that is dedicated to NATO or I'll call out agreements that are bad, the Iran agreement. That's a controversial position. He has a lot of people who support that. Look at the problems we have been having with North Korea going back to the '90s when Bill Clinton negotiated a position. This is consistent with a tough approach to the United Nations. He is not very diplomatic about it. He says, he has been a critic, but there is potential to work together. That's what the supporters will say was a win today and he will have other conservatives in the establish say, yes, the United Nations have been coming up short for a long time.</s>BLITZER: He has been getting support from his base and the Republican establishment. People like what they heard, but a lot of people are criticizing. The Republican base, the people who elected him president were pleased by his tough words today as far as North Korea and Iran and radical Islamic terrorism which he cited at the same time. David, thanks very much. Meanwhile, there is a new Republican effort right now to overturn Obamacare, and its gaining momentum and why this bill would have a dramatic impact on America's entire health care system. We will update you on that. Also, after insulting and publicly berating them, there's new word President Trump is trying to mend fences, with several Republicans, at least in private. This is CNN special live coverage.