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Paul Manafort, Rick Gates Indicted On 12 Counts Including Conspiracy Against U.S., Money Laundering, False Statements; Trump Campaign Adviser Met With Russian To Discuss "Dirt" On Clinton, Pleads Guilty To Lying To FBI. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired October 30, 2017 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:33:13] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We are continuing to follow the breaking news this hour. Dramatic new developments unfolding Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. Two Trump campaign officials who are due in court next hour are charged with conspiracy against the United States, money laundering, and giving false statements. So just a few of the charges against Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and business associate Rick Gates. The two have already surrendered to the FBI. They'll appear in court next hour.

I want to bring in our senior Washington correspondent Brianna Keilar. Brianna, first of all, what do folks out there who are watching need to know about Manafort and Gates?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they need to know about Rick Gates, Wolf, is that there is no Rick Gates in all of this without Paul Manafort. And his connection to Manafort is something that goes back years. They worked together. Gates worked for Manafort in his lobbying firm for sometime and then he was a deputy to Manafort when Manafort was the chairman on President Trump's, then Mr. Trump's campaign.

After the election, of course, actually Gates stuck around once Manafort left, but not for too long. And after the election, he created a pro-Trump pack. America first with a number of campaign aides. And then even as Manafort has been distanced from the White House, Gates has actually been going in and out of the White House at times, being a part of meetings. He is someone who has been working for Tom Barrack, a confidant of President Trump.

You are familiar with Tom Barrack. He was the head of the Inaugural Committee for President Trump's inauguration. And all of this connected back to of course Paul Manafort who ran the campaign not for very long, just for May to August for President Trump. But at a very key time where he got enough delegates to be the nominee where he went through the convention.

[12:35:04] And his background that he's created a lot of interest for the feds, Wolf, has been his role as a lobbyist for a number of international leaders and dictators dating back to the 1970s including pro-Russian leaders. Most, note, were among them the former President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. This was the reason that Paul Manafort was actually the subject of FBI surveillance. Not just recently, but back in 2014 as well. Yanukovych, it seemed he laundered and has been accused of laundering millions and millions of dollars and there were questions about whether those who worked for him had helped him do this.

There were also a -- and that, of course, was a question that surrounded to Paul Manafort. There was also a times report in August of 2016 which was one of the reasons that Paul Manafort ended up stepped down from the campaign and that report alleged that there been a handwritten ledger that kept off the book records of payments from Yanukovych's party. It included a $12.7 million payment to Manafort. Manafort asserted that that didn't happen, Wolf. But it created a huge cloud. That was the reason that Manafort stepped down from the campaign.

BLITZER: Very interesting. All right, Brianna, stand by.

Julie Davis and Dana Bash are still with us. Do we know who vetted Paul Manafort to make him the campaign chairman, the highest level of the Trump campaign, campaign chairman reporting directly to the then candidate Donald Trump? Who brought him in? And who vetted for that?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: So brought in and vetted are two different things. And you remember the Trump campaign. I don't know that there was a whole lot of vetting going on.

BLITZER: But given this history --

BASH: Yes.

BLITZER: -- it is involvement of Yanukovych of Ukraine, all of that activity you would think they would be more cautious.

BASH: Well there is that and then there's the fact that they hadn't worked in Republican politics in decades or in this kind of capacity. The answer to your question is by all accounts Tom Barrack who is a long time very good friend of President Trump who had done work with Manafort made the suggestion to bring Manafort in. But remember, he was brought in, Manafort was brought in and Rick Gates came with him, because the two of them as Brianna has said worked very closely together to manage the convention. The Republican convention which, at that point, they were kind of headed to a potential train wreck because there was a lot of questions about whether there would be a delegate fight. So that's what he was brought in for. The existing campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, was fired and Manafort kind of filled the hole. Didn't last very long.

My understanding is that that the President liked Manafort because he had respect for him, he felt that he was kind of a peer. And that, when it came to Rick Gates, less so even though Rick Gates stayed on longer because Gates had a lot of fans in the campaign and the RNC and then Tom Barrack as well.

BLITZER: And we know that Rick Gates unlike Manafort, during the course of this year, he was visiting the White House on several occasions even though the White House doesn't release the visitor logs. I'm sure the FBI knows about all of the visits.

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Absolutely. I mean, one of the things you hear, we've heard today already from the President and we've heard in the past whenever these allegations about Paul Manafort have comes before is, well, he didn't have that big of a role in the campaign. As Dana said it was really only a temporary. The fact is he was brought in to play a crucial role --

BASH: Crucial.

DAVIS: -- that essentially solidified Donald Trump getting the nomination and being able to come out of that convention in a successful way. And Rick Gates was working hand and glove with him and while Paul Manafort retreated kind of into the background after somebody's allegations surfaced. Rick Gates was very much still going in and out having contact with not just campaign officials, but now Trump White House officials. And a lot of those contacts I'm sure being scrutinized by the FBI. As you said, even though, we as the public and as journalists can't see them, I'm quite sure the Special Counsel is looking at all of that right now.

BLITZER: He sent a very powerful signal today with this Papadopoulos arrest.

BASH: No question. Again, we are talking about as we should be, Manafort and Gates because those are very -- to have a campaign chair of no a -- no matter how short he was there, for period he was there, to be indicted is a really big deal. But this person who most people hadn't heard of, his indictment and the ramifications for it, potential ramifications and the connections to Russia, this is the biggie.

BLITZER: Yes, huge irk (ph). Stand by. There's a lot more we're watching. Dana and Julie, we'll be back.

Meanwhile, two ex-Trump campaign officials as you now know they are indicted in the Special Counsel's probe. They are due in court shortly. We're watching also the White House press briefing coming up at the top of the hour. We'll have live coverage.

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[12:44:06] BLITZER: As Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is expected to come out shortly to take questions from reporters, a lot of them no doubt will focus on the Russia probe. The latest developments source from inside the Intelligence Committee now telling our own Jim Sciutto that, quote, the Papadopoulos case goes right to the heart of the collusion matter. We have much more on that coming up. Stand by for the live briefing as well.

We're also waiting for Paul Manafort and Rick Gates to make their first court appearance here in Washington. We found out this morning they're facing 12 criminal felony charges stemming from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian's election meddling. CNN's Jessica Schneider joining us now from outside the federal courthouse here in Washington where these two former Trump officials are set to appear in the next hour. Jessica, so what are we expecting will happen when Manafort and Gates go before a federal judge, Deborah Robinson?

[12:45:00] JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we know that Paul Manafort and Rick Gates, they are inside the federal courthouse right now. They've been there for at least an hour. They're actually undergoing pretrial services which is essentially a court entity that interviews both of these defendants. And some of that interview will actually be used by the judge to determine whether or not to detain both of these men or to release them after this initial appearance.

You know, this is an initial appearance. This is actually a separate and distinct from an arraignment. Some federal courthouses combine the two. We're not sure if that's the case here. If they aren't combined, however, there will be a later arraignment where Paul Manafort or Rick Gates will enter their plea which we expect to be not guilty at the time that does happen.

So at this initial appearance that happens 1:30 this afternoon before a federal magistrate judge, the charges will be laid out for both of these men. We know that they are 12 counts that incorporate money laundering, false statements as well as failing to register as a foreign agent. At that point, the judge will also make clear to them what sort of penalty, criminal penalty or sentence that they face.

And in addition, we know that this judge will have to determine whether or not to detain both Paul Manafort and Rick Gates or one of them and maybe not the other or whether or not to release them. Now as I mentioned prior, they are going through a pre-service trial, pre- service interview right now. And it will be determined what factors the judge can consider here.

But, however, in most cases where this is a nonviolent offense without any prior criminal history, as this is the case here, this is more of a white collar criminal case. It is likely that both of these men after this initial appearance they will likely be released and another court date would happen. But just a few minutes away from both of those men appearing in court before that federal judge, they are here at the courthouse after both turning themselves in earlier today. So a lot to watch for, Wolf, in the next half hour or so. Back to you.

BLITZER: Yes. And if they are both convicted of these changes, they potentially could face many, many years in prison. All right Jessica, we'll get back to you shortly.

We're also going to the White House momentarily. We're standing by for the White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders. She is going to be taking questions from reporters on this. Presumably some other issues as well. We'll have live coverage that's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:51:29] BLITZER: Looking at live pictures coming from inside the White House briefing room. We are expecting the Press Secretary Sarah Sanders to come out any moment now start answering questions from reporters. Live coverage coming, there'll be lots and lots of questions.

Sanders likely face the questions about the indictments of two former Trump campaign officials. The White House certainly was hoping to talk about the President's upcoming trip to Asia. He leaves Washington at the end of this week and the unveiling of the new Republican tax cut, tax reform plan.

Let's bring back our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash. I assume she's going to say that Manafort and Gates and George Papadopoulos were not very important to the campaign to begin with. Let's move on.

BASH: Yes, I'm sure she is going to say that and, you know, talk about other things to distance themselves from these people who were indicted, which is her job. Look, this morning when we knew about the first two names, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates and the content of what they have been indicted for, the White House had a legitimate claim to say this has nothing to do with the White House, this has nothing to do with Russia, it's mostly are the White House collusion with Russia, Trump campaign collusion. Are things that happened in their business and mostly before he even came on to the campaign.

This Papadopoulos indictment throws that whole argument into the garbage can, because he is shown in pictures as part of the President's national security team or at least the campaign national security team. And most importantly, in this affidavit, he has a lot of e-mail exchanges with and about other campaign officials and he was arrested at the end of July and who knows what he has been gathering for the feds from Trump campaign officials since.

BLITZER: Because he is cooperating fully.

BASH: Exactly.

BLITZER: He wants to reduce sentence the more he cooperates --

BASH: Precisely/

BLITZER: -- less of the sentence. Stand by. Dana, stay with us. We are expecting the White House briefing to begin fairly soon. We'll have live coverage. Let's take another quick break and we'll be right back.

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[12:57:31] BLITZER: Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer here in Washington. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. A very historic day here in Washington with the first of what could be many indictments headed on the special investigation into possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. Add to that a separate guilty plea from this man, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser who lied to the FBI about his own relationships with foreign nationals connected to the Russian government. The FBI says George Papadopoulos lied about contacts with foreign agents who were discussing, quote, dirt on Hillary Clinton's e-mails.

Right now, we're awaiting two important events said the White House briefing set to begin momentarily. And we'll hear the first on camera White House response to this indictments and this guilty plea. And later this hour, the two men named the former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his former campaign deputy business associate Rick Gates, they will appear in federal court for the first time.

Take a look at the charges in the indictments. Among them, conspiracy against the United States and money laundering. We'll get into more detail on the charges in a few moments, but these charges do stem from their work with political parties in Ukraine supporting Russia. President Trump tweeted this response, "Sorry, but this is years ago before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't crooked Hillary and the Dems the focus?????"

Our senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta is over at the White House. Jim, lots of question marks in that presidential tweet. What can you tell you first of all about George Papadopoulos, his connection to the Trump campaign and his guilty plea?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, I think George Papadopoulos is obviously the person of the day here in Washington. This is somebody who really wasn't on nobody's radar screen heading into this morning. You get the sense from talking to sources in and around the White House that they were completely blindsided by this news.

Yes, I think they did expect the Paul Manafort and Rick Gates indictments to come down, but I don't think anybody was really expecting to see this looks like treasure trove of information that was unearthed by the FBI and talking to George Papadopoulos and investigating his contacts with the so-called professor who was apparently in contact with the Russians. I talked to a number of sources this morning and yes, while they do describe George Papadopoulos as not a significant player in the campaign.

I talked to one source who said he was in contact a significant amount with certain officials inside the campaign. This was not an advisor or --