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World Headlines; Michael Cohen Pleaded Guilty To Felonies; Priest Sex Abuse; Argento Denies Sexual Assault Allegation; Welcome Back, Mum. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired August 22, 2018 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:00] KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong and welcome to "News Stream."

A president under pressure. Donald Trump faces intensifying legal questions as two former members of his inner circle look at jail time.

Campaigns of disinformation. Facebook and Twitter clamp down on bogus accounts and pages linked to Iran as well as Russia.

And emotional goodbyes. Korean families mark the end of three days of reunions after being split by war for decades.

Blindsided, stunned, and rattled. Just some of the reactions sources say are coming from inside the White House after two top Trump aides, Michael

Cohen and Paul Manafort, added new titles to their resumes on Tuesday, convicted felon.

For Cohen, a guilty plea also contained a bombshell, without ever mentioning him by name, Cohen said Donald Trump directed him to commit a

federal crime when he ordered hush money payments to two women in the days leading up to the 2016 election.

The Cohen news dropped as Manafort was convicted of eight counts of tax and big fraud charges, a development that could led him in prison for the rest

of his life. And he faces another trial in September. The Manafort conviction was a big win for the special counsel's Russia investigation,

but President Trump was quick to distance himself from his former campaign chairman.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Paul Manafort is a good man, he was with Ronald Reagan, he was with a lot of different people over the

years and I feel very sad about that. It doesn't involve me, but I still feel that, you know, it's a very sad thing that happened.

This has nothing to do with Russian collusion. This started as Russian collusion, this has absolutely nothing to do. This is a witch-hunt and it's

a disgrace. This has nothing to do what they started out, looking for Russians involved in our campaign. There were none.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Donald Trump calling it a witch-hunt. Now, the attorney for Michael Cohen tells CNN that his client feels, in his words, liberated.

CNN's Brynn Gingras has more on the traumatic change of heart for the man who once famously said he would take a bullet for the U.S. president.

(BEGIUN VIDEOTAPE)

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Cohen implicating President Trump as he pleads guilty to eight charges of tax evasion and

violating campaign finance laws.

ROBERT KHUZAMI, DEPUTY UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: These are very serious charges and reflect a pattern of lies and

dishonesty over an extended period of time.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Though not mentioning either by name it was clear through evidence and the dollar amounts that Cohen was referring to

payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal when pleading guilty to the campaign finance violations.

He also didn't mention Trump by name but said to the judge the payment regarding McDoughal was quote, "for the principal purpose of influencing

the election." Cohen also said in court that he kept information from becoming public, quote, "in coordination and at the direction of a

candidate for federal office."

CNN has reached out to the president's personal attorneys for comment. The White House declined to comment. Cohen is facing 65 years in prison. He

posted a $500,000 bond and will face sentencing on December 12th. Cohen is not required to cooperate with the government as part of his plea agreement

according to one source.

The president's attorney turned fixer has been under federal investigation for months. Authorities have been looking into his business dealings

including $20 million in loans involving his taxi business. Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Now, as you might expect, team Trump there hitting back hard against the man formerly known as his fixer. Now here's what the

president's current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said in response. He said this, quote, "There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president in

the government's charges against Mr. Cohen. It is clear that as the prosecutor noted, Mr. Cohen's actions reflect a pattern of lies and

dishonesty over a significant period of time."

And CNN has learned that the White House was hoping for a favorable outcome in the Manafort trial, one that would enable President Trump and his allies

to attack the Mueller probe. But a conviction is not stopping Trump from doing exactly that. Just listen to what he said at a West Virginia rally

last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:05:04] TRUMP: Fake news and the Russian witch hunt. We got a whole, big combination. Where is the collusion? You know, they're still looking

for collusion. Where is the collusion? Find some collusion. We want to find the collusion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: OK, we have got a lot to discussion with our CNN politics digital director Zachary Wolfe. He joins us now live from Washington.

Zachary, thank you so much for joining us this day. These are, yes, difficult times for Donald Trump, but is it politically damaging? Does his

base, like the people we saw in that crowd in the video just now, do they even care about these legal outcomes?

ZACHARY WOLFE, CNN POLTICS DIGITAL DIRECTOR: I don't think there's any indication that his base, the people that he spoke to in West Virginia, the

people that were chanting "lock her up" in reference to Hillary Clinton last night. I don't think they care much about this, but I do think that

this is the kind of thing that could have a real impact on his standing, you know, with more moderate voters, more moderate Republicans.

Certainly most Democrats are already opposed to him and don't forget, we have an election coming up in which the control of Congress is very much in

play and if Democrats take control of Congress that will change his presidency immeasurably. It would be a totally different environment for

him.

LU STOUT: Yes. Trump needs to keep his support -- hee needs to keep it from eroding any further. There's the idea out there of a pardon for Paul

Manafort. Now, if the president were to pardon Manafort, what kind of political backlash could he be facing?

WOLFE: I think, you know, in the past he sort of transmitted that he might be open to pardons with some of the political pardons he did including

Scooter Libby and some other people, sort of suggesting maybe if people stood up for him that he might pardon them. I do think that once you start

pardoning people who did bad things and worked for you, it sort of makes it look very swampy.

He's a guy who came in promising to get rid of the swamp and that would just sort of wreak of, you know, bad Washington politics. I think that's

the kind of thing that could actually turn some people against him.

LU STOUT: Yes. He came into power pledging to get rid of the swamp, and yet, here we are. The lies, the allegations of corruption just pile up. So,

looking forward to the midterms, do the Democrats know what to do with this? I mean, this is a powerful tool. Can they use it to sweep into power

in Congress?

WOLFE: Democrats have been really careful not to make this, make Paul Manafort and the Mueller probe and Michael Cohen, they've tried not to make

that their reason to get people to vote for them, although surely they expect to benefit from it. You know, the question I think for them is,

whether this kind of thing consolidates his support if people have just turned off Mueller moderates and sort of moderate Republicans, or whether

they can turn some to their advantage.

People are already expecting lots of Democratic gains in this election. The question is will it be enough to get them in control of the House of

Representatives and maybe the Senate.

LU STOUT: Yes, and so much at stake there, political power as well at the beginning of possible impeachment proceedings. Zachary, we'll leave it at

that. Thank you so much for joining us this day and do take care.

WOLFE: Thanks.

LU STOUT: And be sure to keep it here, right here on "News Stream" because our chief legal analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, he'll be joining us with more

analysis on this one-two legal punch for the Trump administration and why he says the president of the United States could be in jeopardy. That

interview coming up in about 20 minutes.

Now, after an all too brief chance to see and to hold their loved ones, 89 families separated by the Korean War, they have now hugged and kissed

goodbye for what could be the last time. They spent 12 hours together in North Korea over the past three days after almost seven decades apart.

Relatives from the South are now returning home. Thousands of others in South Korea are hoping to live long enough for their chance to meet loved

ones as relations between the two Koreas improve. Paula Hancocks is live in Seoul, South Korea. She's monitoring the story for us for days now and

Paula, it is just so hard to imagine the emotions of these families as they say what could be their final goodbyes.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kristie. I mean, this is the truly heartbreaking part of this family

reunion. When you see these families who haven't seen each other for decades, they have now spent a total of 12 hours together trying to catch

up on almost 70 years of lost lives together.

And then they have to say goodbye knowing that it is more than likely that is the last time that they will see each other. That is the last time that

they will be saying goodbye, separated for a second time. Now these are part of countless families who have been torn apart by the Korean War back

in the 1950s.

And these family reunions are really the brutal legacy of that war. Those 89 South Korean families have said goodbye. They've come back down to South

Korea.

[08:10:03] They are heading home or are at home now and have to take stock and face the reality. And they, of course, are the lucky ones. They are the

ones that were able to reconnect with their long-lost relatives. Many of whom they wouldn't have known whether or not they were alive. There are

57,000 people in South Korea who are eligible for these reunions. There is a tiny fraction that actually managed to have these reunions. There will be

a second set at the end of this week. Friday, Saturday, Sunday and we will see these heartbreaking scenes play out once again, but there is a push or

there does seem to be a desire certainly on the South Korean side for this not to be the final reunion. Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yes. And that's what we've heard from the South Korean president Moon Jae-in. Also, the U.N. Secretary-General who earlier this week is

calling for more reunions. The U.N. chief saying that he hops that such reunion events they could become routine and even include affected Koreans

worldwide. But Paula, what is the likelihood of that happening?

HANCOCKS: It all depends on North Korea. If it was up to South Korea, if it was up to the U.N. Secretary-General, then these reunions would happen

every week. But it is up to Pyongyang whether or not they want these to carry -- to be carried out. It's been three years since the previous family

reunion, and in the past three years, as you know well, Kristie, there have been intensive nuclear and military testing on the part of North Korea.

Relations between North and South Korea have been dire. So it's only when relations between North and South Korea are good that these happen. It is

only when Pyongyang wants these to happen, that these do happen. And it's not an overstatement to say that this has been used as a political tool in

the past.

North Korea has canceled these family reunions at the last minute to make a point in the past. So certainly South Korea wants them, the U.N. wants

them. It's up to North Korea.

LU STOUT: Yes. And look at these scenes, these tearful scenes as this precious family reunions come to an end. Paula Hancocks, reporting live for

us. Thank you so much, Paula.

Now, up next, Facebook says it has uncovered coordinated disinformation campaigns with links to Russia and Iran. We're going to tell you how social

media companies are protecting their platforms in the final months before the U.S. midterm elections.

And why death to America doesn't always mean what it seems on the streets of Tehran. We go live in Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: All right. Coming to you live from Hong Kong, welcome back. You're watching "News Stream."

Facebook says it has taken down more than 650 pages, accounts and groups it says were part of a coordinated disinformation campaign linked to Iran and

Russia.

[08:15:06] Now, the social media giant made some of the discoveries after a tip from the cyber security firm FireEye. Meanwhile Twitter, said it

suspended nearly 300 accounts with apparent links to Iran.

"CNN Money" business and technology correspondent Samuel Burke joins us now. Samuel, good to see you. So, we have Facebook and Twitter now cracking

down on these major disinformation campaigns, and what's interesting is, it's not just Russia who is involved here.

SAMUEL BURKE, CNN MONEY BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We see these other accounts that analysts say are linked to Iran. I

just want to put up on the screen here exactly the scope of what we're talking about here, Kristie, because it is huge. It's not just Facebook.

It's Facebook, and Instagram.

We're talking about over 600 pages, groups, accounts, linked to Russia and Iran. More than one million followers in some cases, but also twitter

removing almost 300 accounts that they also say are linked to Iran. It's so interesting to think about what the definitions of a cyber attack is now.

We used to think of it, kind of a boom like you'd see in a real physical war.

But with this type of warfare, it's really more of the drip drop that can be more effective. And I want to get back to the scope here because in the

case of Iran, these accounts that are linked to maybe press T.V. in Iran, according to these social networks and analysts. You look and see how far

they were directed. It wasn't just directed at the United States.

To think of this as just being directed at the midterm elections appears to be an error. We're talking about all types of messaging aimed at the United

Kingdom for instance, of course, the United States, Latin America, and the Middle East. Just think about that. It looks like countries have taken a

page out of Russia's book and seeing how effective they can be and try to have it on a much broader messaging scope.

And I say messaging because the types of things that we were seeing here according to analyst weren't just directed to the United States. It was

about the kind of bigger political narrative that Iran has all around the globe, anti-Saudi, anti-Israel. So it's really about pushing this broader

political message across social media in so many regions.

LU STOUT: You laid it out for us. The production of disinformation is indeed a global campaign. Samuel Burke reporting live for us. As always,

thank you.

Now, we got Lee Foster is standing by. He is the manager of information operations analysis at FireEye. His team specializes in identifying cyber-

driven nation state influence campaigns as well as (inaudible) actor hacktivism. He joins me now live from Washington.

Lee, thank you so much for being here on the program. Twitter and Facebook, they were able to crack down on this because they apparently acted on a tip

from your firm, from FireEye. So, how were you able to track down these suspect accounts?

LEE FOSTER, MANAGER OF INFORMATION OPERATION ANALYSIS, FIREEYE: So, we have a dedicated team at FireEye intelligence that specializes in trying to

track various influence campaigns online. As part of this, we study narratives that are being pushed by suspicious accounts, perhaps the

narratives that they are promoting are inconsistent with the purported identities of the actual accounts promoting them.

From this we're able to unravel kind of connections between different clusters of accounts and various inauthentic news sites. And from that

we're then able to go out and for example notify Facebook of what we're seeing in this space for them to then go and investigate further on their

end to see where else this might actually be taking place on their platforms.

LU STOUT: Got it. And the source of these activities coming from you know, Russia and Iran. And you know, Russia, well-established as a source of

cyber disinformation, but Iran. Are you surprised that Iran is also manipulating behavior online and for what purpose?

FOSTER: I'm not surprised at all. I think in the same way that for example the media is now paying closer attention to the risks of these kind of

influence campaigns online and the same way that researchers like ourselves are thinking about these in terms of the defensive posture against these.

Nefarious actors are also looking at kind of developments since 2016 and Russia's activity in the space and thinking about how they may be able to

use this offensively for their advantages. So it's not surprising to me.

LU STOUT: Got it. And let's talk about big tech in general because, you know, the revelation from Twitter and Facebook, and thanks to the tip from

FireEye, this comes one day after Microsoft says it thwarted a Russian hack attack targeting the U.S. Senate and conservative think tanks in America.

Do you feel that big technology companies are finally putting some muscle, some attention into fighting online threats especially online threats to

democracy?

FOSTER: I think the specific case for example in the kind of cooperation around the Iranian operation we've identified has really illustrated the

importance of all of these different organizations and companies, not just social media platforms but companies in the cyber security space.

[08:20:13] Journalists, researchers, all coming together to cooperate in trying to unmask these campaigns because the fact is they're not specific

to any single platform. They really permeate the entire information space.

LU STOUT: Got it. Lee Foster of FireEye, joining us live from Washington, thank you so much for joining us. Take care.

FOSTER: Thank you.

LU STOUT: Now, as Facebook pushed back on Iran's war of disinformation, we have President Trump's security adviser John Bolton warning Tehran that

Washington is prepared to exert maximum pressure on the country to stop its nuclear program. He spoke in Jerusalem on Wednesday, in fact.

Now, we are also seeing that regime's response that's taking place already a short time ago. A senior cleric threatened both Israel and the U.S. if

they attacked and just the war of words continues to escalate. Some citizens meanwhile on the streets of Tehran, they are rejecting the hard-

line, "death to America" rhetoric though. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The lights still sparkle in Tehran, sanctions be damned. Nobody here chants

"death to America." Rather, the design is from California, the clientele from Iran's worldly elite.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the Iranian people, they travel. They used to travel to America. Now with the sanctions, I'm not sure, but they are fed

up with the politics, yes, but with Americans, no.

WALSH (voice-over): Take away the head scarves, add a few real cocktails and you could be in Europe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People respect Americans, they like Americans and Iranians always try to create, re-create like American looks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think they hate America Americans at all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going to happen in the next 15 years? We don't even know what's going to happen tomorrow because every day is something

new.

WALSH (voice-over): Here you can't help but think Iran and America's people ought to get to know each other a little better. Don't tell that to

both their leaders. There are decades of animosity on display in the ghoulish remains of the U.S. embassy. American diplomats were held hostage

by Iran here and coups plotted by the CIA. The museum filling this top secret spy room with dummies.

(on-camera): Thank you, just one second. Now, the Trump administration is really doing all that it can to try and drag the image of the United States

here in Iran back decades, to a time of espionage, subterfuge, when the United States was doing, again, all it possibly could to undermine or

change the Iranian government.

President Barack Obama, well, he saw that in the age of the iPhone there was an opportunity to improve Iran's economy and persuade its people that

its future lay with the outside world. It's been better way back when, too. Jim and Gladys (inaudible) from Riverdale, New York, first came here for

their honeymoon in the `50s. The love affair is still going.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People here are wonderful. They are friendly. They are welcoming. They offered us roses at the airport and it's lovely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're disgusted with our president. Our president is misbehaving.

WALSH (voice-over): Across town in Southern Tehran is the Iran that gets up early. Their day begins long before the sun's heat. There is far less

money here, but still articulate views on how the White House messes with their lives.

I don't have a deep understanding, he says, but the U.S. don't act justly. We don't count Mr. Trump's eyes. He has problems with the government, but

what's my sin?

WALSH (voice-over): The poor, the clerics who guide Iran, the young conscripts in an army whose regional grip has expanded.

When we chant "death to America" he says, it's to the government of America. The people are respectable and we have no problem with them. I

haven't fought in Iraq or Syria but if our military hadn't gone there we'd be fighting ISIS in the streets of Iran's cities.

WALSH (voice-over): Sanctions are already felt here. I mean, less animals are slaughtered. And delivery of each lamb, less profitable.

I've got things to do, he says. I don't have time to chant "death to America."

WALSH (voice-over): Yet not all rising prices, like a 40 percent jump in housing costs they complain of here, are blamed on America.

It's got nothing to do with the USA, this man says. The government has it (ph). They don't provide me with my bread. They're not here. He added, the

protests, like Iran has sporadically seen this year was futile, yet the ebb and flow of Washington and Iran's enmity makes daily choices here harder.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Joining us live from Tehran is CNN's Nick Paton Walsh. And Nick, that was such a great story.

[08:25:03] I mean, you've taken us into an Iran we don't usually see. These western-minded Iranians who have no animosity towards the U.S unlike their

leaders. So, do you believe that there's a way that this sentiment of the Iranian people could somehow bring these two countries closer together?

WALSH: Well, bear in mind too, there are many different types of Tehran. I mean, you saw the beginning, yes. Now, people who have a great experience

of traveling the west, some of whom who live in Europe for vast parts of the year and speak fluent English have that great affinity with the west

and of course others, too. The work that you saw in the poorer parts of Tehran who (inaudible) to themselves see any reason why they would have

animosity towards the American people.

But have over the years seen American Republican and Democrat governments ebb and flow in how they feel about Iran. And certainly it's sad to say

too. Iran's government has gone from the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president to now more moderate Hasan Rouhani. So, back and forth that

continually goes and with it the threat and the punishment of sanctions that generally affect daily economic life here.

Now, it's true to say, too, that many in Tehran have frankly learned to weather that, that they've got their systems to get around the various

things that U.S. and for a while there, to general abroad (ph) -- global western sanctions prohibiting them from doing but it's coming back.

So, the U.S. have renewed sanctions a couple of weeks ago against the ultimate of industry, precious metals foreign currency, and soon, just as

the midterms hit in early Novembers, we'll see the oil industry and banking sector hit again, too. But at the same time, Kristie, Europe is saying we

still want this deal to go ahead.

It's (inaudible) is successful at stopping the nuclear program and we even heard Germany's foreign minister suggest perhaps the need for a different

type, a separate kind of payment system than we currently use in order to get around this sort of threat of U.S. sanctions that enable easier

business with Iran, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Nick Paton Walsh with the view from Tehran. Thank you.

You are watching "News Stream." Still ahead, two advisers, once close to Donald Trump, they are now convicted felons, but could their convictions

mean legal trouble for the U.S. President? We'll ask our chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream" and these are your world headlines.

Eighty-nine families separated by the Korean War have now said goodbye for what could be the last time. They spent 12 hours together in North Korea

over the past three days after almost seven decades apart. The reunions, they follow the (inaudible) relations between the two Koreas after that

historic summit back in April.

Hurricane Lane has strengthened to a Category 5 storm and it's heading for Hawaii.

[08:30:04] Forecasters say it is likely to weaken to a Category Three before it reaches the islands in the next 36 hours and it is possible the

storm could pass just south of the U.S. state. These pictures, they were taken by a U.S. weather plane flying in and around hurricane lane over the

Central Pacific.

Donald Trump's former personal lawyer turned fixer Michael Cohen has implicated the president in violating campaign finance laws. In a plea

agreement, he said Mr. Trump directed him to make a payment to an adult film star to keep her alleged affair with the then presidential candidate

quiet.

And another former member of the president's inner circle also facing prison time. Paul Manafort was Mr. Trump's campaign chairman. He has been

found guilty on eight counts of tax and bank fraud, but a mistrial was declared on 10 other charges after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

Manafort could receive a maximum of 80 years in prison.

The president is now trying to distance himself from both of his former aides who are now convicted felons. Mr. Trump told reporters on Tuesday

that Manafort is a good man, but his case has nothing to do with Russian collusion, which he says is all part of a disgraceful witch hunt.

Meanwhile, the attorney for Michael Cohen suggests that the president's longtime fixer could still have damaging information for the Russia

investigation. He also said that the president needs to own up to his actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANNY DAVIS, LAWYER FOR MICHAEL COHEN: There is no factual dispute. Mr. Trump's lawyers said he directed Michael Cohen to make that payment. He is

as much guilty of a felony. He just hasn't owned up to it, but what he did do is try to hide by asking his lawyer to do something he wasn't willing to

do because he feared the electoral consequences of what was being done was to pay hush money involving two women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Now, let's talk more about all of this with CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin. He is live in Sherman, Connecticut. Jeffrey Toobin,

thank you for joining us. Michael Cohen's lawyer suggesting just then that if those payments were a crime for Michael Cohen, then why wouldn't they be

a crime for Donald Trump? So, what's next for Trump? Could he be prosecuted?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the Justice Department has a policy. It's not binding law, but it is a policy that any sitting

president, incumbent president, cannot be prosecuted while he's in office. Robert Mueller, who is leading this investigation, has indicated that he

will honor that policy. So, I don't think there will be any criminal prosecution of Donald Trump.

However, this disclosure is certain to increase calls for impeachment in the Congress. Now, the Congress currently, before the November midterm

elections, is under the control of the Republicans, and they are not going to make any effort to impeach Donald Trump. But if the Democrats retake the

House of Representatives, which does seem possible, this does raise the possibility of an impeachment proceeding in 2019.

LU STOUT: Got you. Also wanted to ask about the implications of Cohen agreeing to this plea deal. By doing so, is Cohen going to give authorities

more damaging details on Trump for a lesser sentence and could he be approached by the special counsel?

TOOBIN: Well, Lanny Davis, one of his lawyers, just said on CNN that he will cooperate with Robert Mueller. He will cooperate with all other

investigations. And Davis suggests, give incriminating information about Donald Trump to any official governmental body that asks.

Now, it's important to point out that the Trump forces are already accusing Michael Cohen of being a liar, of someone who has lied in the past,

admitted it, and who is now lying to try to save his own skin and get a lighter sentence.

That debate is certainly going to go on for quite some time now, and it will be very interesting to see if Michael Cohen has any corroboration for

the story he tells about Donald Trump. Are there other witnesses? Are there documents? Are there e-mails? Are there tape recordings that show Michael

Cohen is telling the truth when he incriminates Donald Trump?

LU STOUT: Gotcha. And shifting attention to Paul Manafort. You know, Donald Trump still, you know, trying to make it clear that the Manafort

trial had nothing to do with him or Russia, as the specific charges were not related to collusion. But -- so explain to us here. How do the

financial crimes of Paul Manafort fit into the larger Mueller Russia investigation?

TOOBIN: Well, it is certainly true that in the Manafort trial, there was no direct evidence that Donald Trump did anything improper.

[08:35:01] But the whole background to the Manafort case is that Paul Manafort received millions of dollars from Ukrainian government sources

that were very closely allied with Vladimir Putin. The question that hangs over Manafort's involvement is, why did he get involved in the Trump

campaign?

What did he do, if anything, to advance Vladimir Putin's interests during the time he was chairman of Donald Trump's campaign? Paul Manafort has not

cooperated with investigations. He has not told what he knows to investigators, but there's going to be a lot of pressure on him now because

he, too, is looking now at a long prison sentence.

So it's true that Manafort has not implicated Donald Trump in any improper activity with regard to Russia, but there are a lot of questions that

Manafort could answer if he decided to talk to investigators.

LU STOUT: Yeah, got you. And as we track the outcome of these two very separate cases, are you surprised that the case involving Stormy Daniels

and the hush payments and Michael Cohen that that has progressed so much faster than the Russia probe?

(LAUGHTER)

TOOBIN: You know, the answer of whether I'm surprised, I'm surprised every day at what goes on in this case and with this administration. There are a

lot of moving parts in this investigation. There is illegal activity potentially regarding campaign contributions as the Stormy Daniels case

illustrates.

There is the investigation of Russia and its involvement in the 2016 campaign. There is the investigation of whether Donald Trump obstructed

justice when he fired James Comey, the director of the FBI. All these questions are still swirling around.

LU STOUT: Yeah.

TOOBIN: The one thing that is clear is that yesterday was the worst day of Donald Trump's presidency and it only opens the door to more disclosures

and more investigations, and we'll see where those go.

LU STOUT: Well, thank you so much for joining us here on the program just to help us understand the Manafort verdict, on the guilty plea from Cohen,

what this means for the Russia probe, the greater chess game at play here. Jeffrey Toobin joining us live, thank you so much. Take care.

Now, Pope Francis is asking believers to pray for him ahead of his trip to Ireland this weekend so that "it might be a moment of grace and listening."

The pontiff is facing immense pressure to not only admonish but to take action against clerics who commit sexual abuse against minors. The pontiff

is planning to meet privately with Irish victims of abuse by Catholic clergy.

Delia Gallagher is in Rome with more. And Delia, thanks for joining us. So much pressure on the Vatican now. All eyes will be on how the pope is going

to respond in Ireland. What will be his message?

DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kristie, this is called the world meeting of families. This is the ostensible reason that

the pope is going to Ireland. It is a Catholic event that is held every three years in a different country. So the pope himself has said his

message is going to be focused on families, on young people, on the elderly.

But, of course, the pope is going to an Ireland which socially has changed tremendously in the last decade. They now have legalized same-sex marriage,

they have repealed a ban on abortion, and of course they have been dealing with revelations of sex abuse in their own country for the past decade.

So, we know that the pope will be meeting with survivors of sex abuse. The Vatican usually doesn't give out a whole lot of detail on that. It's up to

the survivors afterwards to talk about that meeting if they want. Obviously, all eyes and ears will be on any further comments that the pope

has to make about the sex abuse scandal in Ireland and indeed in other parts of the world.

But the real question at this point, Kristie, we've had a letter from the pope released on Monday. We've had numerous apologies really in the last 16

years from the Vatican, from Pope Benedict, from Pope Francis. The question is, you know, are words going to make a difference to the people in

Ireland, to Catholics around the world?

Or is there going to need to be something else, more concrete action, which we've been hearing from a lot of people, at least in the last few weeks

since the United States scandal started up again in a very significant way, Kristie.

LU STOUT: Yeah, the pressure is certainly on the pontiff not only to just come up with a response but to take action. This is a rapidly escalating

crisis for the church. Delia Gallagher reporting live for us in Rome, thank you.

And the actress and filmmaker Asia Argento is denying allegations that were reported in The New York Times that she sexually assaulted a former co-

star. Argento tells, they have been imposed, that she never had a sexual relationship with Jimmy Bennett who was 17 at the time.

[08:40:02] She claims Bennett made an exorbitant request for money and says the actor was trying to capitalize on the proceed wealth of her

boyfriend, the late Anthony Bourdain.

She says they, quote, decided to deal compassionately with Bennett's demand for help and give it to him, and that Anthony personally undertook to help

Bennett economically upon the condition that we would no longer suffer any further intrusions in our life.

Now, CNN continues to reach out to Asia Argento and her representatives as well as representatives for Jimmy Bennett for comment.

You're watching "News Stream" and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: It's Wednesday night here in Hong Kong. Welcome back. This is "News Stream." And finally, we got to share this with you. A heartwarming

moment in Australia as an abandoned baby koala is reunited with its mother.

This precious baby koala was found freezing and alone at the bottom of a tree. So, a couple of wildlife rescuers took her in and bottle-fed her.

They suspected that her mom would come back, and guessed what, they were right.

After three days, the koala mom returned for her baby. Rescuers are planning to release the pair back into the wild. Oh, so adorable.

And that it is for "News Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout. Don't go anywhere though. We got "World Sport" with Amanda Davies. That is next.

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[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

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