and putin said 50%. 50% to vladimir putin. at that point he became the silent business partner of all the oligarchs. >> putin was re-elected in a landslide in march 2004. winning 71% of the vote. six months later in september, tragedy struck the russian city of beslov when russian militants occupied a school for three days, taking 1100 people hostage. including almost 800 children. army troops stormed the school to end the siege. by the time it was over, 334 people were dead, half of them children. it was a turning point for putin and for russia. >> this was used by putin's surrounding start new political. which in fact moved to us strong consolidation of political power in one hand. and putin in fact started to be more dictator than elected president. >> in the wake of beslan, putin eliminated elections for governors across russia, he would now appoint them. and those who crossed him, were punished. in november 2005, american-born investor bill broader, who had made billions in the russian stock market was deported from russi

and putin said, 50%. 50% for vladimir putin. and at that point he became the silent business partner of all the oligarchs. >> putin was re-elected in a landslide in march 2004, winning 71% of the vote. six months later, in september, tragedy struck the russian city of beslan when chechen militants occupied a school for three days, taking more than 1,100 people hostage including almost 800 children. army troops stormed the school to end the siege. by the time it was over, 334 people were dead. half of them children. it was a turning point for putin and for russia. >> this was used by putin's surrounding to start new political -- which in fact moved us to strong consolidation of political power in one hands. and putin in fact started to be more dictator than elected president. >> in the wake of beslan putin eliminated elections for governors across russia. he would now appoint them. and those who crossed him were punished. in november 2005 american-born investor bill browder, who had made billions in the russian stock market, was

putin was all smiles with the prince. the president is scheduled to meet with other world leaders before leaving the g20, including china's xi jinping for a high-stakes discussion on trade issues. as for the questions hanging over the president in the russia investigation, there are some grumbles inside the gop over mr. trump's changing stories on the moscow project. one top gop strategist told me earlier today, it would have been a different campaign in 2016 had the public known about it. wolf? >> all right, jim acosta reporting from here in buenos aires. thank you very much. i want to bring in cnn international diplomatic editor, nick robertson and cnn senior diplomatic correspondent, michelle kosinski here with us at the g20 summit. michelle, the white house says the mueller investigation undermines the u.s. relationship with russia right now. how is it bacimpacting this 1us? >> how about the fact that vladimir putin is implicated in murders and attempted murders on foreign soil, or the fact that russia has taken over

putin just arrived this morning. we have seen the world leaders come in and greet the argentinan president. how will president trump react when he comes face-to-face with putin. what will that interaction be like? how will he greet the leader? we know this is on the president's mind. how do we know that? he has a twitter account and he's talking about it. dismissing that deal related to trump tower moscow saying it's very legal and cool that i was doing this. he's arguing he was transparent during the campaign. somebody who covered the campaign, that's not the case. this is something that president trump repeatedly talked about. when asked about any interests in russia, he repeatedly said he has none. that is a question we would like to pose to the president. we have been trying to pose to the president. he's not taken any questions. that may change when we see him sit down for some of those bilateral meetings. >> not an exaggeration to say the world is watching. i want to bring in nbc news investigations reporter to

putin. first, let gee's go straight to major earthquake on alaska. what's the latest? >> reporter: the anchorage police department has warned of major infrastructure damage. they have teaming out right now assessing the damage. so far we have seen minor damage to hospitals and schools. those after shocks just keep on coming. the terrifying moments the massive 7.0 earthquake rocked anchorage. women on the sixth floor of this courthouse ducking under desks and the building rocked for what was 90 seconds. >> oh, my god. >> it's okay. >> reporter: the quake forcefully shaking the airport before the lights go out. trying to run out of terminals, alerting inbound flights not to land. >> there was an earthquake here. >> reporter: on the ground outside the airport this row collapsed leaving a vehicle stranded in middle and there's reports of sink hole downtown and rock slides blocking roads elsewhere. buildings quickly evacuated in the city. this cnn affiliate news room badly damaged. all anchorage

so the way you make money in putin's russia is to make nice with putin. that's what was going on here, that this was about business. and i think that's a chilling thought because this guy was running for president of the united states. no one knew he was negotiating while the campaign was going, the primary campaign. but the pieces fit together. >> we should point out our reporting does not say that michael cohen, that donald trump knew about like a $50 million apartment idea per se, that that was something a business partner, that a marketing idea, but it's not clear if donald trump knew about that. >> that's right. but he certainly knew about the project, and the money to be made was on the project not in giving vladimir putin the $50 million kauncondo. and he's been going to moskow since the '80s, donald trump has, trying to build trump tower moskow. this is an obsession of his. he went in the '80s, '90s. >> we should point out being friends with vladimir putin, during the miss universe thing he was tweeting, wow, i wonder if putin will come, he'll be

be in business with vladimir putin while vladimir putin is waging this war on the american electoral process. >> i think, you know, you've hit on a very central issue here which is the crinology on all of this. trump previously has said they stopped negotiating to deal with this in 2016. michael cohen as said it continued into june of 2016. that infamous trump tower meeting where don junior met with russians that had compromising information on hillary clinton took place on june 9, 2016. this deal trump tower moskow fell apart on or around june 14th. so within days the russians have sent envoys into trump tower to try to give the trump camp information they can use to undermine hillary clinton's candidacy. and they decide then to stop pursuing this deal. why is that? i think it suggests that they decided to tradeoff the idea of doing business with president trump or at that time candidate trump in order to do politics with him. and trump today tried to say that michael cohen is a liar, but the entire fact pattern, it's documentable around this is that the trump organization has been

putin is tell me that russia didn't interfere in the election, and putin telling the world standing next to trump that he did, in fact -- trump to win the election, but that he didn't do anything untoward. we could see the two of them come out and make similar arguments defending each other, backing up each other's word. the logistics are more or less as following, president trump is expected to arrive here tonight, start meetings tomorrow morning. that is when the main body of the g20 sessions begin. on friday there will be protests on the street. there's talk of flying that trump baby balloon, that trump blimp that we saw during protests in london earlier this year, and then on the sidelines of this meeting we're expected to see president trump and president putin, according to the kremlin, meeting for about an hour, not sure if we will see joint statements coming out, but we did see those joint statements in helsinki where the two of them were using the opportunity to back each other up. >> reporter: richard, you spend a fair amount of time overseas and is this something in moscow tha

he was not willing as he was leaving to stand up to president putin. he sort of left the door a little ajar in his "washington post" interview. now after this, the lawyers have a phrase, "the thing speaks for itself." so i will just let his tweet speak for itself. >> i'm lost when people start speaking latin. but i do want to say -- >> you know that's not true. >> it's largely true. >> i don't think i've ever done it on television before. >> -- in high school and still can't remember -- >> i think he's right, that mr. clinton was part of a joint defense farious in and of itself. >> we shouldn't normalize it. >> joint defense agreements happen. innocent people, guilty people sometimes. that's a thing that exists all the time and is okay. to your point, to joyce's point this is not normal. it's not because there's a joint defense agreement. put that aside for a moment. it's because of the underlying conduct. >> joyce, when we -- just to tie a bow all around this. what we're talking about here is a major guilty plea by a witness saying he lied to the sena

ties to putin? does he continue to put business first? and he has always said there is no business first, he has no ties to russia. here's what he told our own lester holt in may of 2017. >> i built a great company, but i'll not involved with russia. i've had dealings over the years where i sold a house to a very wealthy russian many years ago. i had the miss universe pageant, i had it in moscow a long time ago. but other than that, i have nothing to do with russia. >> when he says he sold his house to a russian a number of years ago, he's talking about a palm beach property he bought in 2004 for 41 million bucks, that he sold to a russian who had been jailed for plotting the murder of a business foe. he was then a quitted but he sold it to that russia for $95 million four years later. real estate is the number one place to easily launder money and he sold that property, again, twice the price, over four years. president trump's personal plane and that russian oligarch's planes landed in the same ci

meeting with putin. who knows if he's actually going to meet with him. because as a protest for russian aggression against ukraine. but sarah sanders released a statement this morning, attacking the mueller probe and saying, quote, the russian witch hunt hoax, which is hopefully now nearing an end, is doing very well. unfortunately, it probably does undermine our relationship with russia. okay, first of all, that sounds like it was completely dictated by president trump. >> nonsensical. >> doesn't make any sense. but second of all, why would the mueller probe be more upsetting and more undermining of the relationship than the fact that russia attacked the united states and interfered or attempted to in the u.s. election? that doesn't seem to make sense. >> because it affects the president directly. i think is the answer to that question. but look, the reason why president trump is so distracted is because there are very few things in this scenario where he can have control. the mueller probe, the relatio

and so the opposition to trump has become also opposition to putin putin becomes trump trump becomes putin we need to decide that are intertwined and i want to talk about that in detail but before we get to that i want to talk about the and after it because that's the other big story around here so trump wants to pull out of it. his biggest argument actually being that china. is outside of its scope wouldn't just be easier to bring china anan actually in large channa well there's also the argument that russia's been violating the terms of the i.n.f. treaty which is mean you don't withdraw from an arms control treaty you try to expand it you try to improve it but you know i come back to john bolton the neoconservative advisor who trump brought in he was the architect of withdrawal from i would argue the most important stabilizing arms control the green. in two thousand and two the a.b.m. the any ballistic missile treaty. the withdrawal from the i.m.f. is part of a larger problem sophie it's part of the unraveling of the stabilizing framework for arms control if this goes down and it w

cohen discussed the idea with a putin representative. it is not clear if then candidate trump was informed of the putin plan. >>> special counsel robert mueller looking into the role of the president's children in the trump tower moscow project. ivanka trump and donald trump jr. worked independently on the project. the attorney for ivanka trump refused to speak on the record. >>> president trump immediately on offense reacting to news of cohen's plea. his go-to attack of his former trusted attorney is weak and a liar. trying to save his own skin. >> he's a weak person and by being weak, unlike other people you watch, he is a weak person and what he's trying to do is get a reduced sentence. he is lying about a project that everybody knew about it. he's a weak person and not a very smart person. >> that's tight. i like it. >> quick fact check. everybody did not know about the trump tower moscow project. the proposal came to light long after it was canceled and after president trump took office. leaving the white house for argentina yesterd

>> and putin meeting off. just an hour after saying it was a great time to meet with the russia president, president trump tweets that the meeting at the g-20 summit is off citing rising tension between russia and ukraine. is that the real reason? i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> we're following breaking news. the bombshell revelation that despite his denials that donald trump did have significant business dealings with russia during the 2016 presidential campaign even after he secured the republican nomination. that will news springing from the guilty plea by the president's former personal toern an fixer michae-- persona fixer michael cohen. he's now telling what he knew about the trump moscow tower project. eel speak with mike turner of the house intelligence and armed services committee and our analysts and specialists are also standing bit. first, let's get details on the breaking news. joining us right now, our cnn justice correspondent jessica schneider. we now know that cohen spoke

putin is more like stolen. stalin was always asked how do you reconcile the fact that you equipment, your tanks, soldiers are not as good as anybody else. stalin said look, quantity has a quality all its own. he just threw been at the situation. that's what the putin intelligence agencies are doing. they are just the numbers at the rest of the world. it is not like our counterintelligence has gotten so much better that we are catching everybody. it's that their bumbling and stumbling. the operation ghost stories, you might remember in 2010 the russian redheaded femme fatale that was arrested along with nine other. they are idiots. they were. they track them for a decade before they finally rolled them up. they were getting too close to the hillary clinton campaign which is interesting. but the just did not take the time to spend five years of the kgb academy to get really, really good at doing espionage. no, they got about nine months and then ssml. that's why we are catching on the bots because the bots forget

i would have liked him to meet putin and challenge to. what does the challenging aspect of that mean do you think. i think if some slightly more dovish people maybe people who want peace on earth want to drum been putin to meet to discuss bilateral issues of war and peace around the earth. and then there's clearly want to try to threaten they wanted a meeting with his new ford for peace but to basically threaten him with world war three that seems to be the suggestion of his idea of when if there is a meeting between the two leaders the german chancellor she's taking a different track she's called for more dialogue let's have a listen to what i'm going to say if we can. i will raise the issue with the russian president at the g twenty summit we ask the queen inside to also be sensible because we know that we can only solve things through being reasonable and through dialogue there is no military solution to these disputes. would you be of the opinion that other european leaders are behind her statement or. well certainly they'll be relian

watch this. >> putin called me brilliant. i like it. putin called me a genius. i said donald trump is a genius and he's the absolute leader over there and he's the smartest person. >> i think putin has been a very strong leader for russia. >> wouldn't it be great if we actually got along with russia? is there anything wrong with that? >> interesting, interesting. so juliette, at the same time he was trashing nato and the eu, was he doing putin's bidding? >> yes. i mean, it's so horrifying to see this knowing what we know now. because what you are seeing in these clips and i'm sort of catching my breath because when you see them all together what you see is the future president of the united states or the president of the united states essentially praising an enemy of the united states and someone who undermined our democracy solely pore monetary gain and undermining a very precarious at some times coalition unless nato and the eu to give putin what he wants so that putin gives trump what he wants. it's pretty simple. i mean, it's not -- this isn't rocket science

now putin as we said earlier is in a defensive posture which is not usual for putin. he is begging for this meeting. the president has an opportunity to give him that meeting briefer maybe than it would be before. maybe a hallway conversation but stick a finger in his chest and say enough is enough. >> bill: sarah sanders said the russian witch hunt hoax is doing very well. unfortunately it probably does undermine our relationship with russia. the reason for our canceled meeting is ukraine. hopefully it will be resolved soon so productive conversations can begin. it probably does undermine our relationship with russia. >> it likely does. as ed pointed out it seems to have an impact on president trump's meeting with vladimir putin. what else has the relationship? michael cohen testified to congress and told lies that russia knew were lies and this document that he wrote that was public was very clear if you were involved in the deal, if you were involved in president vladimir putin's press operation over there, the michael cohen wasn't being truthful. things like that

and so the opposition to trump has become also opposition to putin putin becomes trump trump becomes putin we need to decide that also so for intertwined and i want to talk about that in detail but before we get to that i want to talk about the and after it because that's the other big story around here so trump wants to pull out of it. his biggest argument actually being that china. arsenal is outside of its scope wouldn't just be easier to bring china anan actually in large channa well there's also the argument that russia's been violating the terms of the i.n.f. treaty which is i mean you don't withdraw from an arms control treaty you try to expand it you try to improve it but you know i come back to john bolton the neoconservative advisor who tromped brought in he was the architect of withdrawal from i would argue the most important stabilizing arms control agreed. in two thousand and two the a.b.m. the any ballistic missile treaty. the withdrawal from the i.m.f. is part of a larger problem sophie it's part of the unraveling of a stabilizing framework for arms control if this goe

so now i like putin. now, putin called me a genius, by the way. he said, donald trump is a genius and he's the absolute leader over there and he's the smartest person. i think putin's been a very strong leader for russia. he's been a lot stronger than our leader, that i can tell you. wouldn't it be great if we actually got along with russia? wouldn't it be great? is there anything wrong with that? >> as the former cia moscow station chief steve hall tells me it's close to inconceivable that president putin was not aware of the trump deal for the tallest building in moscow and possibly in all of europe, putting candidate trump's flattery, he's absolute leader, he's strong, he's an absolute leader, and trump's suggestion of changing american policy to russia in a whole new, disturbing and ugly light. and in a court filing today, prosecutors say cohen admitted that he lied to congress about the moscow deal after trump became president to protect him and to, quote, minimize links between the moscow project and trump and give the false impression that

usual it's been a while the things change so we've got a lot to talk about i mean last time trump and putin met in helsinki. there were such big hopes there really really big hopes. that something would come out of that relations will improve but not much really came out of the summit and got a lot of flack at home for a meeting there were russian leader i mean it's hard to expect a major breakthrough this time around in paris what do you think. there's a big struggle everybody knows about it going on in washington over trump's policy tour. russia. it would seem and this is been the case i think you and i talked back then when he was a candidate that he said he wanted to cooperate with russia we used to call that detente and that's been pretty much his policy overall policy since he became president but he's also done contradictory things and the question is are these contradictory things the result of his own inability to be a consistent leader or are people in washington preventing him from doing what he wants to do with russia that's the big question at the moment what do you think is it

time following this such demonization of russia and putin in particular but such any russian feelings and lobbies with almost no pro russians. lobby that trump looks to be almost alone look what happened when he withdrew from the i.n.f. treaty this was the big stuff this was what we did actually talk about ryanair agreed to report here and the and withdraw all in detail before we get to that you just hit it on the nose because putin has been invited to visit washington in early two thousand and nineteen who what is the white house hoping to get out of this visit seeing how mr putin is so demonized like by the american elite like you said and the press. i agree with you completely if i understand what you're suggesting to me i think it's a bad idea not that having the leader of russia in washington in general is not a good idea we remember past visits or even boom was here earlier in his leadership and we remember the welcome the gorbachev got it can be very positive but sophie i tell you you must know sitting in moscow you must sense that we are in an unprecedented situation the bad f

so the way you make money in putin's russia is to make nice with putin. that's what was going on here, this was about business. and i think that's a chilling thought, because this guy was running for president of the united states. no one knew he was negotiating while the campaign was going, the primary campaign. but it -- the pieces fit together. >> we should point out, our reporting does not say that michael cohen -- that donald trump knew about like the $50 million apartment idea per se, that was something, according to felix seder, a business partner, that was a marketing idea. but it's not clear if donald trump knew about that. >> that's right. but he certainly knew about the project, and the money to be made was on the project, not in giving vladamir putin the $50 million condo. the money was -- and you know, i went to moscow. i reported this. he's been going to moscow since the '80s, donald trump has, trying to build trump tower moscow. this is an obsession of his. he went in the '80s, the '90s. he did miss universe in 2013. >> we should point out,

watch this. >> putin called me brilliant. i like. >> now i like putin. putd putin called me a genius, by the way. he said donald trump is a genius and he's the absolute leader over there and he's the smartest person. >> i think putin's been a very strong leader for russia. he's been a lot stronger than our leader. i can tell you. >> wouldn't it be great if we actually got along with russia? wouldn't it be great? is there anything wrong with that? >> interesting, interesting, interesting. so juliette, at the same time he was trashing nato and the eu, was he doing putin's bidding? >> yes. i mean, it's so horrifying to see this knowing what we know now because what you are seeing in these clips, and i'm sort of catching my breath because when you see them all together, is what you see is the future president of the united states or the president of the united states essentially praising an enemy of the united states and someone who undermined our democracy solely for monetary gain and then undermining a very precarious at some times coalition in nato and th

here is cohen, on behalf of donald trump, seeking the help of vladimir putin's office, vladimir putin himself, to make this deal happen. that's in treaty by the presidential candidate of the united states to the president of russia, i want your help to get money to do this deal. stunning in the full context of everything we've learned since about the president's efforts to do business in russia. the whole questions of what, the contacts between his campaign and russia. it really puts an entirely new cast on everything we've learned up until now about trump and russia and the mueller investigation. >> here's what president trump says about this. he sees it obviously in a very different light. here's how he explained this deal that never happened yesterday. >> i was running my business while i was campaigning. there was a good chance that i wouldn't have won, in which case i would have gotten back into the business and why should i lose 0 lots of opportunities? even if he was right, it doesn't matter, because i was allowed to do whatever i wanted during the campaign. >> there you go, mi

a good idea for putin to be in syria, let isis take out assad and putin will take out isis. that's like a board game. that's not how the real world works. >> i don't know much about putin but i know he's a gangster. >> what we have to recognize right now is putin is really trying to spread his influence throughout the middle east. >> here's what i'm curious about, michael steele. what if you knew at that moment in time, what if republican voters knew at that moment in time that when the president was praising putin, he had a signed development deal to do business with putin in moscow? >> i need to start with the fact that this has pained me ever since the board game he was referring to was risk, not monopoly. >> it's hard to clean up after these candidates. >> you have to play clean-up three years later now. >> every republican political official in america had a greater suspicion of vladimir putin. every elected official -- this is a bipartisan issue. skepticism about putin is a bipartisan position understanding the brutal pressure of the regime. if we had known this, we wo

to set the scene here, peskov is putin's number two, his guy. >> yes. he's a press secretary, but he's not sarah sanders to president trump. this is his right-hand man. >> here's the criminal information. on or about january 20th, 2016 -- campaign's happening, we're in the thick of it. january is like iowa, new hampshire. we're going into the whole thing. on or about january 20th, 2016, cohen received an e-mail from the personal assistant to russian official one stating she had been trying to reach cohen, requesting he call her using a moscow-based phone number. cohen called assistant one and spoke to her for approximately 20 minutes. cohen requested assistance in moving the project forward. both in securing land to build the proposed tower and financing construction. assistant one asked details stating she would follow up. this is the president of the united states, personal bag man, secretly calling the russian president's office, to ask, to beg for help to get a deal cleared. >> it's an extraordinary moment in there. i mean, this is something he's li

vladimir putin. here's what he said. >> ukraine. we don't like what happened. we're not happy about it. nobody is. hopefully they'll be able to settle it out soon because we look forward to meeting with president putin. on the respect of what took place, that was the sole reason. >> and speaking of putin, it's been a day full of photo opportunities. look at this extraordinary video. earlier the russian president shaking hands with saudi prince mohammed bin salman. and look at the -- i mean, that is like a -- i wouldn't say a bro hug but a secret hand shake and just to remind you, who these men are. it's not like they're frat brothers. putin, a former kgb agent. he's one of if not the richest and most powerful men in the world with an estimated net worth of up to $200 billion. and the crown prince of saudi arabia, bin salman is currently under fire across the globe for accusations about his involvement in the brutal murder of "washington post" journalist jamal khashoggi. hours ago president trump held

president puts the blame on ukraine saying sunday's naval standoff was a premeditated provocation mr putin also said that some ukrainian sailors were spawn's saying the crews of the captured ukrainian vessels included two secret service agents also coming up tonight the role of islam in german society it remains a controversial topic in parliament and on the streets tonight one story of hope faith and shaping the future. also coming up at russia's most vulnerable victims of. the latest in our series of special reports the head of the world aids day takes you to a russian orphanage where children infected with the virus live with each of the negative. i'm good to have you with us ratcheting up the tension and russia's president vladimir putin is accusing ukraine of orchestrating sunday's naval standoff russia seized three ukrainian vessels on sunday and at least twelve ukrainian sailors have been detained pending trial and u.s. president as expressed deep concern over russia's actions ukraine's president has declared martial wall in the border regions and he is warning that russia is prepar

. >>> putin's aggression. president trump says he's not happy about russian aggression against ukraine after moscow's military seized three ukrainian navy ships and 24 sailors. what is mr. trump going do about it? >>> and investigation threats as democrats prepare to take control of the house. they're planning to probe president trump's financial ties to russia and saudi arabia. is money the reason he won't stand up to the autocratic leaders of those countries? i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." ♪ >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following breaking news. president trump defending the use of teargas by u.s. border patrol and migrants including children who tried to rush the border from mexico. as he left the white house a while ago for a rally in mississippi, mr. trump also blasted general motors which is cutting production and jobs at five plants. the president says he was, quote, very tough on the company's ceo when he talked to her earlier. i'll discuss that and much more with senator

but the sanctions that were put on putin's cronies were incredibly problematic for putin. his guys basically went to him and set you are in power because we are letting you stay in power. putin's actual hold on the presidency is much more send bus than we think. his buddies don't like him anymore, they could have him have an accident or a coup. and the rope he was squeezed, that is a way to really make putin hurt. and that is what was happening especially at the end of the obama administration and when hillary clinton was secretary of state. he blames her for a lot of things. the orange revolution in the ukraine he blames her for because of her speeches in response to what happened in ukraine. and a lot of the anti-putin movement like pussy-right and other things inside russia were focused more on the united states as being the boogieman behind all this. >> he took the traditional strength of a president, which hurt them. it took their money. and he decided we are going to be adaptive, and asymmetric, and we are going to put a president in that will not be a traditional pr

here putin attends the g twenty summit. also. through the streets of the belgian capital as the so-called yellow vests movement spreads to brussels in a mimic protest following similar scenes. of. racism in middle earth and claims that peace like works from the father of the rings may be victims of discrimination. alone welcome to our two international just gone seven pm here in moscow this friday means it's well known in the afternoon in argentina's couple of buenos aires where leaders of the world's most industrialized economies are getting together. the proceedings are officially underway for the annual g. twenty summit the event is expected to be clouded with differences over many issues as the year has seen new alliances formed on longstanding one strained the day started with a meeting of the brics nations on the sidelines with president putin taking the stage. and you can go on to. the increasingly replace the international dialogue raised on honesty inequality this vicious practice of using little you no matter sanctions

>>> and passing on putin. as mr. trump heads to the g20 summit in argentina, he abruptly cancels his meeting with the russian president citing the crisis in ukraine. given the timing right after the cohen guilty plea, is that explanation believable? >>> we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room." >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> we're following a major breaking story now. the president's former fixer admitting in federal court that he lied to congress to protect mr. trump and to limit the russia investigation. michael cohen pleading guilty in a cooperation agreement with the special counsel robert mueller. cohen confessing that the president's business dealings with moscow continued later in the 2016 campaign than had been revealed, and that mr. trump was kept informed along the way despite his attempts to downplay his ties to russia. as the legal peril for the president may be escalating tonight, cnn has also returned that cohen has tal

system of international relations and he also slammed those for using sanctions unilaterally vladimir putin says that this kind of vicious practice is harmful for international relations and international economy. it's been ten years or so hasn't it since the g twenty actually came into being i can't remember a time when there's been more headlines leading in even before the summit actually begins what is the atmosphere there like because there are so many issues to be approached isn't there. well union i can't really tell you what it is probably bad luck maybe the summit's been cursed i don't know and now here's a situation for you the chinese leaders plane was in a parking position then the door opened and his security guard came out and then the orchestra music went off for the security guard not for paying now how's that for an awkward situation what about angela merkel she couldn't even fly out of germany first her plane had to be grounded there was an emergency situation she had to experience an emergency landing but then technical issues continued and she had to take a commercial fli

but the sanctions that were put on putin's cronies were incredibly problematic for putin. his guys basically went to him and set you are in power because we are letting you stay in power. putin's actual hold on the presidency is much more send bus -- much more tentative than we think. his buddies don't like him anymore, they could have him have an accident or a coup. once he was squeezed, that is a way to really make putin hurt. and that is what was happening especially at the end of the obama administration and when especially at the end of the obama administration and when hillary clinton was secretary of state. he blames her for a lot of things. the orange revolution in the ukraine he blames her for because of her speeches in response to what happened in ukraine. and a lot of the anti-putin movement like pussy-riot and other things inside russia were focused more on the united states as being the boogieman behind all this. >> he took the traditional strength of a president, which hurt them. it took their money. and he decided we are going to be adaptive, and asymmetric,

portraying himself as someone who appreciates putin but then you know behind the doors he does whatever he does or is it really he's helpless and he has to do what that ministration tells him to do. and i guess i've been following for soviet in a russian american relations for nearly forty years i don't put a lot of weight or importance on whether the two leaders like each other or not the real question is do they see in the other a partner a partner for their own politics a partner for their own national security that so for whatever reason trump thinks it's extremely important to have a detente like relationship with putin now remember one thing it's forgotten here the three major episodes of the time and in the twentieth century were all done by republican presidents correct eisenhower nixon and reagan trump is a republican president maybe a strange republican who but a republican so he's in the republican tradition on the other hand you have him in washington today i think more than i've ever seen in my long adult. wife time following this such demonization of russia and putin in pa

it's not just putin. erdogan of turkey, why is he so drawn to autocrats, leaders of countries that have silenced the press. that have killed or ordered the killing of their citizens who have spoken up against them. yet he has turned his back on allies of the united states, france and canada. >> we'll leave it there. thank you very much. thank you all for joining me. >>> nearly two hours away is that 12:00 deadline which is looming large in the florida election. joy reid will have more on that. joy reid will have more on that. (vo) gopi has built her business with her own two hands. each unique piece comes to life in the same way... a messy, sloppy, splattery way. but now she's found a way to keep her receipts tidy, even when nothing else is. (brand vo) snap and sort your expenses with quickbooks and find, on average, $4,628 in tax savings. smarter business tools for the world's hardest workers. quickbooks. backing you. [ready forngs ] christmas? no, it's way too early to be annoyed by christmas. you just

out of the ball that putin gave to tromp to be inspected for k.g.b. style bugs there were rumors that hypnotism could have been at play and amid all of this frenzy trump actually backtracked on some of his words about election hacking president putin he just said it's not russian i will say this i don't see any reason why it would be like you want to. send should have been i don't see any reason why i would or why it went to russia sense then another meeting had been in the works for months and the two leaders had plenty to discuss president trump would look forward to seeing you in paris it's still important to work in areas where there is a possibility of mutual cooperation president meet with president putin i think it will be a full agenda the issues that we have on security issues on arms control issues and regional issues including the middle east last month the two world leaders opted not to me not wanting to steal the thunder of the world war one commemorations this time they are stealing the founder of the g. twenty by not having the meeting

understands or he just seems incapable of criticizing putin i don't want him to do that again stand next to putin and said well that was a provocation by the ukrainians that would not be in america's national interest just better not that the media coverage like this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone but last time the two leaders met the media went into a total meltdown hell think he was treated like an abomination now every aspect of the face to face meeting was question there were calls for the interpreter to testify before congress there were some who wanted the ball that putin gave to trump to be inspected for k.g.b. style bugs there were rumors that hypnotism could have been at play and amid all of this frenzy trump actually backtracked on some of his words about election hacking president putin he just said it's not russian i will say this i don't see any reason why it would be looking for a reason to. send should have been i don't see any reason why. i wouldn't wear white it would be rush sense that another meeting had been in the works for months and the two leaders had plen

to set the scene here, peskov is putin's number two, his guy. >> yes. he's a press secretary, but he's not sarah sanders to president trump. this is his right-hand man. >> here's the criminal information. on or about january 0t20th, 2016 -- campaign's happening, we're in the thick of it. january is like iowa, new hampshire. we're going into the whole thing. on or about january 20th, 2016, cohen received an e-mail from the personal assistant to russian official one stating she had been trying to reach cohen, requesting he call her using a moscow-based phone number. cohen called assistant one and spoke to her for approximately 20 minutes. cohen requested assistance in moving the project forward. both in securing land to build the proposed tower and financing construction. assistant one asked details stating she would follow up. this is the president of the united states, personal bag man, secretly calling the russian president's office, to ask, to beg for help to get a deal cleared. >> it's an extraordinary moment in there. i mean, this is something he's

remember the last summit in helsinki he stood next to putin and because putin spoke strongly, i think i'm quoting the president, he said i believe putin over our intelligence community. i don't want him to do that again. stand next to putin and say, well, it was a provocation by the ukrainians. that would not be in america's national interest. just better not to have the meeting. >> i remember speaking to you that day and i remember in hindsight was it a good meeting or bad meeting. there's a part of me in helsinki trump standing next to putin was a good thing because everybody got to see the emperor had no clothe. you actually got to see what donald trump is like when he's around vladimir putin. there's a real sense of the number of people who believe when he's there he'll be tougher. this is all talk for a different audience. he does not seem to be able to take a reasonable stance on anything when it comes to confronting putin. in fact, he blames president obama and you as the ambassador at the time about crimea. >> yes, well, it's an interesting point you make about exposing presid

understands he just seems incapable of criticizing putin i don't want him to do that again stand next to putin and said well that was a provocation by the ukrainians that would not be in america's national interest just better not that the media coverage like this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone the last time the two leaders met the media went into a total meltdown hell think he was treated like an abomination now every aspect of the face to face meeting was question there were calls for the interpreter to testify before congress there were some who wanted the ball that putin gave to trump to be inspected for k.g.b. style bugs there were rumors that hypnotism could have been at play and amid all of this frenzy trump actually backtracked on some of his words about election hacking president putin he just said it's not russian i will say this i don't see any reason why it would be. sent should have been i don't see any reason why i would or why it would be rush sense then another meeting had been in the works for months and the two leaders had plenty to discuss president trump would l

vladimir putin. i think it's very -- it's an easy assumption to say they will be disappointed that this meeting has been canceled. >> we'll keep an eye out. richarden he will in buenos air rose, peter baker there as well. thank you, gentlemen. that will do it for this hour. kasie hunt is in washington, d.c. what a day. >> indeed, katy, what a day. good afternoon, i'm case i can hunt, vel relevaali velshi is o assignment. president trump's former personal attorney pleads guilty to lying to congress. let that sink in for just a minute. we're 18 months into robert mueller's special investigation and he has the cooperation of a key player steeped in both trump's business and presidential campaign. michael cohen told the court he's guilty of making false statements to congress about the trump tower project in moscow. this is huge. and cohen is already being called back to testify in front of congress. >> what does it mean now about how much we can rely on what the president is saying about any continuing

from power is vladimir putin. >> i don't think that putin is vulnerable to an overthrow from the streets, and i don't think that putin is, for the moment, vulnerable to some sort of coupe detat. >> we asked russian officials for a response. an official here at the russian embassy in washington referred us to a previous statement calling browder a businessman with a stained reputation who putin has accused of stealing $1.5 billion from russia when browder was a financier there. an accusation which bill browder vehemently denies. >> and browder has eluded several attempt business the russians to bring him back to moscow. >> reporter: that's right. he has dodged six warrants seeking his arrest. in one incident this year in spain, spanish police apprehended him but he was released an hour later. he believes if he's ever extradited back to russia, it's going to be a death sentence for him. >>> finally tonight, we have some breaking baby news. cnn correspondent sara ganham has a new daughter. how adorable. leyna was born saturday, weighing 6 pounds and measuring 19.5 inches. congratulations to

so does that mean it had to be putin? it could have been someone else with access to -- >> come on, come on, you're not going to engage in an act of nuclear terrorism in downtown london without the knowledge of the office of the president. >> today we begin the open hearings in the inquiry into the death of alexander litvinenko. >> reporter: in january 2015, a public inquiry opened in london. it's a victory for marina, who, along with her attorneys, fought not eight-year legal battle to make it happen. on the opening day, her attorney argued the evidence leads to one disturbing conclusion, which litvinenko himself reached before he died. >> mr. litvinenko came to the awful realization that he had been the victim of a political assassination by agents of the russian state. >> reporter: and in march 2015, an expert witness testified the polonium that killed litvinenko could have only come from russia. the kremlin ignored the inquiry. president putin's spokesman declined our request for an interview. and in 2015 putin gave l

will the president hold putin responsible? the second thing, as the mueller investigation heats up and it is in the press, if he gives putin a pass, it raises suspicions why he is gentle on putin. the dm domestic politics matters. again, this is not a smart strategic play. >> he will have a choice to shun mbs or shun putin. we know putin and mbs are meeting on their own. the optics are limitless. >> what he is saying, if you are my friend, as a foreign leader, if you murder a journalist or seize ukrainian ships, ukraine is our ally. i'll give you a pass. that is what upsets lindsey graham. he is sending a message to the word lawlessness is fine. you can do whatever you want if you are my personal friend. if you are backing me, donald trump, politically. that is a dangerous precedent. >> it translates domestically. in "the new york post" he is floating the pardon for paul manafort. he shows people against him in prison for treason. >> the president has done some things well in highlighting workers and jobs. this issue of the ru

instead of confronting putin. and it is ironic that this president cannot find his spine to confront vladimir putin but can, you know, challenge the closest allies the united states has across the globe. >> but on the other side, republican lindsey graham called canceling it a show of strength and resolve that sends a signal to vladimir putin that his outrages against international norms will have consequences. where are you on this, max? who's right? >> i'm rolling my eyes at lindsey graham's latest obsequiousness to donald trump. the nogz of canceling this meeting is showing resolve is laughable. there's probably still going to be a meeting although the announced one supposedly will not take place. it was also stunning for me to read that statement you were just kweeting issued by sarah sanders and obviously written by trump himself blaming the so-called russia witch hunt for deteriorating relationships, saying investigating the attack on the 2016 election is trying to get to the bottom of what the russians did

portraying himself as someone who appreciates putin but then you know behind the doors he does whatever he does or is it really he's helpless and he has to do what that ministration tells him to do. well i guess i've been following the first soviet in a russian american relations for nearly forty years i don't put a lot of weight or importance on whether the two leaders like each other or not the real question is do they see in the other a partner a partner for their own politics a partner for their own national security that so for whatever reason trump thinks it's extremely important to have a detente like relationship with putin now remember one thing it's forgotten here the three major episodes of the time and in the twentieth century were all done by republican presidents correct eisenhower nixon and reagan trump is a republican president maybe a strange republican but a republican so he's in the republican tradition on the other hand you have been in washington today i think more than i've ever seen in my long adult lifetime following this such demonization of russia and putin in