-As President Trump's ex-lawyer was headed to jail,
Trump got definitive, ironclad proof
that he did not collude with Russia
from the president of Russia.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
♪♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-After Special Counsel Robert Mueller spent two years
putting together a 400-page report
documenting President Trump's various links
to Russian President Vladimir Putin,
Trump decided that Friday, as he was in the middle
of staging an unprecedented stand-off with Congress
over his administration's handling of that report,
was the perfect time to brag about
his close relationship with Vladimir Putin.
-I had a very good talk with President Putin,
probably over an hour.
And we talked about many things.
-Mr. President, did you address the election meddling issues
that came up in the Mueller Report with Mr. Putin today?
-We discussed that.
He actually sort of smiled
when he said something to the effect
that it started off as a mountain
and it ended up being a mouse.
But he knew that, because he knew
there was no collusion whatsoever.
-And I'm sorry. Can we go back to this?
-We discussed that.
He actually sort of smiled...
-How did you know he was smiling? Did you --
[ Laughter ]
Did you try to call him and accidentally hit
the FaceTime button, Grandpa? [ Laughter ]
Putin doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would FaceTime
unless he's beaming into the U.N. on a giant screen
demanding a billion dollars or he'll kill James Bond.
[ Laughter and applause ]
But I would definitely believe --
I would definitely believe Putin was smiling when they talked.
99% of the time he looks like this.
Though when he sees Trump, he lights up like he just heard
there was a sale on poison.
[ Laughter and applause ]
Now given that Trump and his Attorney General William Barr
have repeatedly lied about the Mueller Report,
Democrats in the House have asked for Mueller himself
to come testify.
And on Sunday, one Democrat said
they'd reached a tentative date
of May 15th for Mueller to testify.
So naturally Trump freaked out on Twitter.
-"After spending more than $35 million
over a two-year period interviewing 500 people,
using 18 Trump-hating angry Democrats and 49 FBI agents,
all culminating in a more than 400-page report
showing no collusion, why would the Democrats in Congress
now need Robert Mueller to testify?
Are they looking for a redo because they hated seeing
the strong "no collusion" conclusion?
There was no crime except on the other side,
incredibly not covered in the report,
and no obstruction.
Bob Mueller should not testify.
No redos for the Dems."
-Okay, first of all, "no redos"?
How is it that Trump always seems to be 100 years old
and seven years old at the same time?
[ Laughter ] Watches Fox News, 100.
Thinks trucks are rad, seven.
[ Laughter ]
Thinks Robert E. Lee is rad, 100.
Likes McDonald's, seven. [ Laughter ]
Second, I thought you said --
[ Applause ]
I thought you said Mueller exonerated you?
Why don't you want him to testify?
"I'm afraid he'll make me look too innocent.
I have to maintain some of my criminal mystique."
[ Laughter ]
It really doesn't help your case
when you tell the cops you have an alibi,
but they can't talk to anyone who can verify it.
"Oh, Brad can tell you. I was bowling during the robbery.
But whatever you do, don't talk to Brad!"
[ Laughter ]
But we need to hear from Mueller himself
because Trump and his Attorney General have spent weeks lying
about what Mueller wrote in his report.
You might remember the report concluded basically
what any rational person who has spent the last two years
paying attention to the news expected it might say.
That even though there was no criminal conspiracy
between the Trump campaign and Russia,
there were numerous links between the Russian government
and the Trump campaign,
and the campaign expected it would benefit electorally
from information stolen and released
through Russian efforts.
So the Trump campaign was specifically informed
over and over again that Russia was trying to help them
win the election by offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.
And over and over again, the Trump campaign invited
and welcomed that help.
Most people, if you offered them a free TV and said,
"I stole this from Best Buy," they'd say, "I don't want that
and I'm calling the cops," but if you offered it to Trump,
he'd mount it on his wall with a plaque under it that said,
"Free TV stolen from Best Buy." [ Laughter ]
You might also remember that when Barr issued
his infamous four-page summary of Mueller's report
in March, he left out all that information
and all the evidence Mueller had gathered
on obstruction of justice.
So Mueller, who never speaks publicly,
took the extraordinary step of writing to Barr
to complain to him that Barr's letter exonerating Trump
"did not fully capture the context, nature,
and substance of this office's working conclusions."
Context, nature, and substance. So basically, everything.
Barr even got the author's name wrong.
[ Laughter ]
In fact, Mueller's report listed 10 separate times
Trump may have obstructed justice
during the investigation.
Now, one of those 10 instances involves Trump's
former White House Counsel Don McGahn.
McGahn told Mueller that Trump had ordered him twice
to fire Mueller.
He was so concerned about it,
he then told Chief of Staff Reince Priebus
and even used some colorful language.
-According the report, President Trump ordered
former White House Counsel Don McGahn
to have Mueller fired.
The President called McGahn at home and directed him
to call the acting Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein,
and say that the Special Counsel had conflicts of interest
and must be removed.
-It's also the colorful reporting from this report
where Don McGahn says to Reince Priebus,
which is the third witness to this incident,
"The President asked me to do some crazy [bleep]."
-It doesn't surprise me that Trump would tell his aides
to do crazy [bleep] to interfere in an investigation.
He probably tells them to do crazy [bleep]
just to pass the time. [ Laughter ]
"Rudy, do that thing where you pull the skin
all the way back behind your head.
Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Thank you, Rudy. [ Laughter and applause ]
You've cheered me up." [ Cheering ]
So Democrats want McGahn to testify in public.
Now, he's already testified to Mueller.
And Trump and Barr have both claimed
that the report exonerates Trump.
So you'd think they'd have no problem
with McGahn speaking publicly.
And yet on Friday, Trump said he might invoke
executive privilege to stop McGahn
from testifying to Congress.
-Mr. President, did you decide whether you will invoke
executive privilege as it relates to Don McGahn?
-That'll all be determined over the next week or so.
-But you said it was done.
-But, you know, I will say this,
there's been no President in history
that has given what I've given
in terms of looking at just a total witch hunt.
I let him interview the lawyer,
the White House lawyer for 30 hours.
Think of that, 30 hours.
-Yeah, but do you understand how bad that sounds for you?
If your friend went to therapy, and you said, "How was it?"
and they said, "I was there for 30 hours," you'd be like,
"Damn, you must be dealing with some crazy [bleep]."
[ Laughter ]
Now, all of this was happening --
[ Cheers and applause ]
All of this was happening as Trump's former lawyer
and personal fixer, Michael Cohen,
was preparing to report to jail in part for a crime
involving the President.
And in a press conference before he reported to prison today,
Cohen hinted that there was even more to come.
-I hope that when I rejoin my family and friends,
that the country will be in a place without xenophobia,
injustice, and lies at the helm of our country.
There still remains much to be told.
And I look forward to the day that I can share the truth.
-Wait, there's more? [ Laughter ]
Well, tell us.
You can't just hint at something like that
and then peace out for three years.
[ Laughter ]
It's like if you're about to go under for surgery
and your doctor leans over and says,
"Okay, we're just going to take out your appendix
and then maybe, uh, some other stuff.
[ Laughter ]
You'll just find out what when you wake up."
[ Laughter ]
Cohen keeps dropping hints like this at his hearing in February
where he named Trump as the individual who directed
the illegal hush money scheme to cover up the affair
with Stormy Daniels.
Cohen hinted that the President had broken even more laws
that we're not aware of.
-Is there any other wrongdoing or illegal act
that you are aware of regarding Donald Trump
that we haven't yet discussed today?
-Yes. -What?
[ Laughter ]
How do you leave something like that just hanging out there?
It's like if you're at a party playing "Never Have I Ever"
and someone goes, "Never have I ever...
fallen into a toilet and gotten stuck there for 30 days,
surviving only on toilet water
until a friend found me and called 9-1-1
and they had to lift me out of the building on a crane
while I was still stuck in the toilet
and take me to the hospital,
where the toilet was surgically removed from my butt."
And then one guy just quietly takes a sip of his beer
and goes, "Okay, who's next?"
[ Laughter ]
Seriously, can someone --
[ Cheers and applause ]
Can someone maybe go find Cohen
and, you know, ask him a follow-up question?
We all know where he is. Before he went to prison,
he was spotted in Manhattan all the time.
And on Saturday, cameras were literally following him
down the street paparazzi-style.
I mean, look at this.
This guy has more paparazzi following him than I do.
One time, a single photographer
followed me for 45 minutes.
When I asked him to stop, he said, "Oh, sorry,
I thought you were the guy from 'The Office.'"
[ Laughter and applause ]
So Trump's ex-fixer reported to jail today.
And on top of that, we have more than 400 pages of evidence
in which it's clear that the President's campaign
benefited from a criminal conspiracy
to steal information during the 2016 election,
and then repeatedly lied about it
and tried to stop the investigation of it.
We need Mueller and McGahn to testify,
and we need Congress to do its job.
Otherwise, Trump will have at least two more years
to indulge in his favorite activity --
-Crazy [bleep]. [ Laughter ]
-This has been "A Closer Look."
♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ]