President Trump Bragged About Firing FBI Director In Meeting with Top Russian Officials; Trump's Full VIP Treatment in Saudi Arabia; Passenger Plane and Utility Truck Apparently Collided
ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I hope your weekend buff to a great start. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. He may be more than 6,000 miles away from Washington, but the President Trump, there is no escape from what is now a full blown crisis for his administration.</s>CABRERA: He was the President earlier tonight. Smiling, swaying to the music at this welcome ceremony in Saudi Arabia. This as sources tell CNN lawyers back at the White House are researching impeachment procedures. The President is increasingly under fire. The "New York Times" now reporting he bragged about firing FBI director James Comey during a meeting with top Russian officials in the oval office. The President reportedly saying quote "I just fired the head of the FBI. He was crazy, a real nut job. I faced great pressure because of Russian. That's taken off." Even before that bombshell, close advisers had urged the President to hire an outside lawyer as controversies over Russia mount. We have every angle of the story covered tonight. Joining me now CNN Presidential historian, Douglas Brinkley. Professor emeritus at Harvard Law School Alan Dershowitz and national political reporter for "Real Clear Politics" Caitlin Huey-Burns. . Alan, to you first. Do you see the president's comments about Comey as evidence of possible obstruction of justice?</s>ALAN DERSHOWITZ, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: I do not. The President of is the head of the executive branch, Unitarian executive. Constitutionally, he can control the branch. He could tell the director of the FBI do not prosecute Flynn. He can say prosecute so-and-so. There is no constitutional barrier to the President doing that.</s>CABRERA: But the fact that Flynn's part of this, investigation was part of his team --</s>DERSHOWITZ: It doesn't matter.</s>CABRERA: I mean, in effect, doesn't he say don't investigate me or my people?</s>DERSHOWITZ: So he has a conflict of interest, that's an ethical matter.</s>CABRERA: That's not trying to obstruct justice?</s>DERSHOWITZ: No.</s>CABRERA: Explain to me the difference.</s>DERSHOWITZ: Because the President has to commit an unlawful act. And Nixon committed an unlawful act. The claim was that Clinton committed an unlawful act, perjury. But a President by simply firing somebody or telling somebody to perform a constitutionally satisfactory function that can't be an obstruction of justice. Nor do I think it can be an impeachable offense. I'll tell you why.</s>CABRERA: But it impacts the investigation, no?</s>DERSHOWITZ: Sure, it would impact the investigation if he gave him a pardon also. Would you say that's an obstruction of justice? The President has a constitutional right, right now to pardon Flynn and to pardon everybody in the Russian investigation and say there will be no more investigations. None of that would be in obstruction of justice.</s>CABRERA: So how do people get around that in the sense of if there is a crime that has been committed by somebody within the administration, and like you said, the President is the top dog, right?</s>DERSHOWITZ: Yes.</s>CABRERA: So he may have the power, but if that's the case, I mean, this is a democracy. He is not a dictator.</s>DERSHOWITZ: Look. It's a democracy and he was elected President. And as a result to being elected president, he has certain authority under the constitution. There's a remedy. It is called election. And next time he runs, people should vote against him if they believe he acted improperly. There's also impeachment which is more political. The problem with impeachment is what President Trump has done is exactly what candidate Trump did during the campaign. And you can't impeach a President who ran and won based on all the things he has done, all the things he is now doing. He is just repeating. There's not that much new that would warrant either an impeachment, certainly not a criminal prosecution. Look, I didn't vote for Trump. I was against him. I voted for Hillary Clinton. I wish she was the President of the United States. I'm a civil libertarian. I care deeply about not expanding criminal statutes to fit people we don't like.</s>CABRERA: Sure.</s>DERSHOWITZ: That's called -</s>CABRERA: But China, in terms of laymen like me, I'm not a constitutional expert like you, trying to understand, I guess some of the nuance in what you are saying in terms of when something is impeachable offense or something is obstruction of justice, what would have to be proven in order to go there?</s>DERSHOWITZ: OK. Tearing up evidence, failing to comply with a subpoena, committing perjury, but if a President has the constitutional power to pardon anybody and the President has that constitutional power. If you don't like it, you have two remedies, amend the constitution, don't vote for him, but don't try to expand the existing criminal law in violation of civil liberties to do what Stalin and</s>CABRERA: OK. Let me get Caitlin in to the conversation here. So whether or not this is obstruction of justice or impeachable, bottom line is the President said these things inside the oval office to the Russian officials as reported by "New York Times." And at this point the White House has not denied that the comments were said. The press secretary Sean Spicer said that - let me show you the quote. He said by grandstanding and politicizing, the investigation into Russia's action, James Comey created pressure on our ability to engage and negotiate with Russia. So Caitlin, he is saying Comey was hurting their ability to negotiate, but the President's comments, I'm wondering, I mean, did he just take away some of these leverage in a negotiation by saying the pressure is no you off?</s>CAITLIN HUEY-BURNS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, REAL CLEAR POLITICS: Right. Well, the White House over the past week had been kind of all over the map on this. Remember, we had that interview with Donald Trump and Lester Holt on MSNBC - I'm sorry NBC. And Donald Trump mentioned Russia in his, you know, potential reason for firing Comey. Then you had, of course, the White House saying no, no, it was the attorney general Rod Rosenstein's recommendation. Now, we are hearing from Rod Rosenstein this week at his briefing numbers of Congress saying, look, I wrote this letter. I stand by it. But in no way was this intended as a justification for the firing. And then --.</s>CABRERA: In fact Rosenstein said that he believed that Trump was going to fire Comey even before he wrote that.</s>DERSHOWITZ: When did he write the memo?</s>HUEY-BURNS: Well, that's the question that a lot of lawmakers on Capitol Hill are wanting to have answered and they have not gotten the answer to this. Besides the legal ramifications, you know, I'm not a lawyer and you are, so I'm looking more at the political fallout of this certainly. We know the President of course is on this trip. I have been talking to members of Congress over the past week. This is certainly, if nothing else, a huge distraction for this President as it pertains to his agenda. But interestingly, Democrats I have been talking to are trying to kind of tamp down on the impeachment talk. There are some Democrats calling for impeachment, but when you talk to democratic leaders, they are say tamp down on this, see how it plays out. They were happy with the appointment of a special counsel in this case.</s>CABRERA: And I want to ask Doug about that. Sources tell CNN the White House lawyers are now researching impeachment, although the White House denies it. Here was the President earlier this week reacting to the appointment of the former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel in the Russia probe.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I respect the move, but the entire thing has been a witch-hunt. And there is no collusion between circling myself and my campaign. But I can always speak for myself and the Russians, zero. I think it divides the country. I think we have a divided country because of that and many other things.</s>CABRERA: So, Doug, he there calls it a witch-hunt. He can do that. But if there is something to learn from past presidents, how could this President better handle the situation?</s>DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, first off, everybody likes Robert Mueller. Everybody trusts him. Democrats, Republicans, Independents. So he is going to come up with a verdict here. Now, if Donald Trump has nothing to worry about, Mueller will say just what Alan Dershowitz just said. You know, we can't find any criminal activity. On the other hand, if there is something or perjury take place r if he has lied to the FBI or shredded documents illegally, these sort of things will come to light. So the good news for America, I think is that we have Mueller in the mix, it kind of get some clarity with all of this. Everybody's bells are being rung, tea pot dome scandal, the Clinton impeachment-Lewinsky woes, Watergate. And usually, the reason we are making these comparisons is because of this special prosecutor. And so I think all eyes on the country are going to be on Mueller. He has stepped up. And even though Donald Trump can fire Mueller, if he wanted to, as Alan suggested, he would never do that.</s>CABRERA: But why would he say bring it on? Bring on the investigation. I have nothing to hide.</s>BRINKLEY: Well, that's what do you understand. That's what Donald Trump should have said from day one, but he seems to be in cover-up mode. And that's why it's ringing the Watergate bell. Every day the Trump White House seems to be covering something up and everybody is wondering what? Why aren't you more transparent? Why aren't you coming forward with it? So we will have to see how this all plays out. But I think the good news is most people can agreed Mueller is going to run an honest investigation.</s>DERSHOWITZ: So let me give you the bad news.</s>CABRERA: OK. What's the bad news?</s>DERSHOWITZ: The bad news, he is going to do it in secret. He is not going to be behind closed doors. He is not going to leak because he is an honest, decent guy. We are going to have people called in front of the grand jury without their lawyers. It will be a kangaroo - look. If you're going to have a kangaroo court, you might as well have a really an honorable kangaroo running it, and Mueller is an honorable kangaroo court as you can get. But it is kangaroo court and it's a secret court. It's a star chamber.</s>CABRERA: So you feel like they are simply more transparent.</s>DERSHOWITZ: Of course, there should a complete investigation by a commission appointed by Congress, where we all see the questions. There's an opportunity to cross-examine. We get both sides of the issue and then the truth comes out.</s>CABRERA: Let me get your legal take on this new development with Michael Flynn. We are learning that Russian officials caught in the intercepted communications say that they had such a great relationship with Flynn. They believed they could use him to influence Trump. And they should Flynn have immunity by any sense of the imagination in order to get more of the details?</s>DERSHOWITZ: Not yet. Not yet. He has to make a proffer. He has to come with his lawyer. You tell the prosecutors what he has to offer. If he has enough to offer, maybe. You usually only give a guy immunity only if he can point to a guy higher up. If he gets something on Donald Trump, yes, sure, he will get immunity. But in the end I think Flynn may be one of the people who may be in trouble here. There may be some lying that may be criminal.</s>CABRERA: Caitlin, we know that James Comey now saying he is going to testify publicly in front of the Senate intelligence committee this might be after Memorial Day. There is not a definitive date yet. But given that it might be in public which is transparent. Everybody is happy to hear that, but how much can he actually said?</s>HUEY-BURNS: Well, members of Congress want to these memos that have been reported about in the press. And so, they want to see those memos. Whey want to hear from Comey himself. There were questions after the appointment of Mueller, whether Comey, who of course is very close with Mueller, whether he would come out publicly and still testify or if he would try to stay behind the scenes and let this investigation play out. What this investigation, though, this probe, and also going forth, the congressional investigation do continue is that it does create this kind of lingering crowd over the White House. And traditionally, you would see Presidents let that play out but say, look, we are going forward with our agenda. Here is what we're going to do. Donald Trump has shown no indication that he is able to do that. We saw the tweets coming out this week, calling it a witch-hunt and so forth. If he continue kind of chime in and distract from the road that he could go down on --</s>CABRERA: If keeps the focus on this Russian investigation.</s>HUEY-BURNS: Exactly. And you know, this is an ongoing investigation, right? So anything that kind of comes out in the process can be used as well.</s>CABRERA: I want to remind everybody in the final days of the campaign, then candidate Trump gave this warning about what would happen in Hillary Clinton won. Let's listen.</s>TRUMP: If she were to within it would create an unprecedented constitutional crisis. She is likely to be under investigation for a long time, concluding probably in a criminal trial.</s>CABRERA: Doug, did President Trump make the right prediction, just about the wrong person?</s>DERSHOWITZ: Wow.</s>BRINKLEY: Yes. You know, that's one of the problems of Donald Trump, the anger, some of the partisan angst, the whole "lock her up" motif which took place at the Republican national convention in 2016 is at hand here. But I do think the fact -- the big question really ultimately is about where did the Russians influence the 2016 election? Did Donald Trump collude with Russians up to day, a cover of Time magazine when he is in Saudi Arabia showing the Kremlin and the White House blurred together? And I think the political question is going to be interesting. Will Republicans stick to the brand of Donald Trump or they are going to start seeing him as a detriment. And I think Comey's -- when Comey goes to Capitol Hill, I think that is going to be a big moment. It is going to maybe a TV circus watching him. But the question is if Comey gives up enough information about Donald Trump, you may see Republicans, gang of ten U.S. Republican senators turning on the President.</s>DERSHOWITZ: But the problem with America is if Trump's prediction comes true and she were elected and there were investigations, the Republicans would now be the ones saying obstruction of justice, expand the statutes. So whether you are Republican and a Democrat, you generally don't care about civil liberties. We need people concerned in a nonpartisan way, whether it will be Hillary Clinton who would be the subject of an unfair investigation or President Trump. Stop the politics.</s>CABRERA: That's why they have this special prosecutors. I mean, that is way we are --.</s>CABRERA: He's going to get to the bottom of it and what his conclusion is will be hopefully --</s>DERSHOWITZ: Prosecutors don't get to the bottom of anything. They hear only one side of the issue. That's why you need public hearings to get to both sides.</s>CABRERA: We would all like to see the transparency. Guys, got to go there. Doug Brinkley, Alan Dershowitz, Caitlin, thank you so much all for joining us. In Saudi Arabia now, let's head overseas. If there's any tension from that Russian investigation back home, the President and his senior staff are certainly not showing it. Let's watch.</s>CABRERA: Quite the celebration in Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia. The President, his chief of staff, his secretary of state, his commerce secretary all joining in on this traditional all-male Saudi sword dance. The President is being given the full VIP treatment by his host fare. He described using one of his favorite words.</s>TRUMP: It was a tremendous day. I just want to thank everybody, but tremendous investments into the United States and our military community is very happy. We want to thank you and Saudi Arabia and hundreds of billions of dollars of investments taken to the United States and jobs, jobs, jobs.</s>CABRERA: Our senior White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny is in Riyadh right now. Jeff, that jobs comment there was the only thing the President really said to the pool. He hasn't given a full-on press conference or anything. Is there any indication that this president plans to address these new developments back home including the bombshell report that he bragged about firing Comey and called him a net dog?</s>JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Ana, there's no question the President and the White House want to keep this trip focused here on issues here in Saudi Arabia as well as other stops along the await here and forget about the Russia investigation. Of course, that is easier said than actually done. But he is not scheduled, the President is not scheduled to have any press conferences on this trip at all. Highly unusual for a president on a high profile foreign journey like this. This, of course, is the first trip he has taken overseas as president. Tonight in fact, he will be sleeping for the first time not in the White House or at Trump-owned golf course or property here. So really is in sort of a new setting here. But Ana, they do not want to talk about the Russia investigation. Of course, that just not mean it is not on their mind. He is traveling basically with, you know, all of his top advisers. And this is something that is definitely a weighing on him. The question here will be, as he meets with leaders, and he gives a big speech tomorrow on extremism. He meets a lot of leaders from the Middle East before going to four other countries next week. Will he be treated differently by foreign leaders? They of course are watching all of the FBI firing, you know, very intently. They are watching everything he is doing. They know that he is weaker back home. But on the world stage at least he is very powerful. That was something that so clear here on the streets of Riyadh today. So there is no question that smile you saw in his face earlier there, he was happy to be here even in the heat of Riyadh today, much you know, welcome, a respite from Washington.</s>CABRERA: Well, he has been given the red carpet treatment for sure since he stepped up at Saudi. He was given that fancy medal, this great honor, this dance that was part of the big celebration. Obviously, a much different reception that what his predecessor had received. And there, we are showing the video right now, Rex Tillerson with the sort and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross. May be there were couple of guys who you usually see in being a very stiff in front of the cameras. And this is -- I mean, them cutting loose to some degree. Seems like they are in their element. Why such a warm receptions by the Saudis?</s>ZELENY: Well, look, this is one of the things that's so interests about seeing a President on the world stage here. But I remember being here in June of 2009 when President Obama was making his first visit to Saudi Arabia as well. He received a similar welcome, but then things devolved pretty quickly because of the Iran nuclear agreement. That is one of the reasons that Saudi officials have such high hope of this president because he has talked so much against the Iran agreement. Of course, he has not yet called out of that, though. So going forward here, they definitely have. You know, want to reset this relationship. But Ana, a very key speech tomorrow here about extremism. And the President is trying to sort of reset that tone. Perhaps also reset his relationship with the Muslim world as well after saying so many harsh things during the campaign -- Ana.</s>CABRERA: Jeff Zeleny reporting, thank you. Some breaking news I want you bring you all right now into CNN. A collision on the ground at LAX, Los Angeles international airport, several people are hurt. This happened on an airport service road. A passengers' plane and utility truck apparently collided. The truck overturned. And according to the Los Angeles fire department, eight people who were in that truck are hurt. Thankfully none of the injuries are life-threatening we are learning. But we are gathering more information. Stay with CNN. These are some live images from our affiliate, KCAL and KCBS therein Los Angeles. Again, as we have more details we will of course bring those to you. Coming up, candid revelations from a friend of James Comey including what the ex-FBI director thought of this now infamous hug from the President. Plus, the President prepares for that big speech to the Muslim world with the big question yet unanswered. Will he use the term "radical Islamic terrorism"?