Scaramucci, McCarthy on if Cohen, Manafort cases hurt Trump

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Scaramucci, McCarthy on if Cohen, Manafort cases hurt Trump

Former White House communications director and former U.S. attorney react to the Michael Cohen plea deal and Paul Manafort verdict.

This is a rush transcript from "The Story," August 21, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, HOST: There are brand new developments tonight on three breaking stories right now as the president is about to take the stage at a rally in West Virginia, where we expect he will respond to all of these in one way, shape or form.

Former campaign manager Paul Manafort, convicted today on eight felony accounts -- felony accounts. Former lawyer Michael Cohen, pleading guilty in a separate case to paying off women at the direction of the candidate in a federal election.

And certainly, the president will have something to say tonight about this story.

Mollie Tibbetts. We now know that she suffered a brutal end. Police say that she was taunted and then murdered by this person who never should have been in this country. This illegal immigrant, Cristhian Rivera, while she innocently went for a jog in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICK RAHN, SPECIAL AGENT, DIVISION OF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION, IOWA: A body was discovered early this morning in a farm field Southeast of Brooklyn, Iowa. We believe it to be the body of Mollie Tibbetts. She was found in a cornfield and there were corn stalks placed over the top of her.

A complaint and affidavit names, Cristhian Bahena Rivera, age 24, who resides in rural Poweshiek County, and he has been charged with murder in the first degree. We have confirmed with Homeland Security investigations that he is an illegal alien, and we believe he's been in this area now for four to seven years.

So we've conducted a lengthy interview with Mr. Rivera. He tells us that he sees Mollie running and was able to come upon her approached her. And while he was interfacing with her, he actually tells us that he ran alongside of her or behind her. And then, at one point he tells us that Mollie grabbed ahold of her phone and said you need to leave me alone I'm going to call the police.

And then, she took off running, he, in turn, chased her down. And then, he tells us that at some point time he blacks out and then he comes too near an intersection which we believe he then placed Mollie.

After we got done interviewing Mr. Rivera, he led us to her location. It seemed that he followed her. And seemed to be drawn to her on that particular day. And for whatever reason, he chose to abduct her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACCALLUM: For a month, her family has been wondering what happened to their daughter. Matt Finn is live in Iowa where that news conference just took place, Matt.

MATT FINN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Martha, during that month Mollie's father and Mollie's family told us that every day that went by that Mollie's body was not found, they actually grew more hopeful that maybe Mollie would be returned to them alive.

This mystery shook this area to its core for more than 30 days and now, today, we have learned that tragically Mollie Tibbetts was apparently murdered by 24-year-old Cristhian Rivera.

Police say that Rivera has been in this country for about four to seven years. We are working tonight to determine and learn a little bit more about Rivera's background. So far, we do know that ICE has lodged a detainer on Rivera which ICE's says Rivera is here illegally from Mexico.

So far, we don't have too much more information on Rivera, but we are working to find out much more about how he was here in the country illegally for four to seven years. And investigators say that Rivera ultimately confessed that on July 18th, he followed Mollie while she was on her jog.

She said, "Get away from me, I'm going to call the police." And Rivera says that he then, blacked out and doesn't remember what happened next. And that he came to out in a rural area. And authorities say this morning, Rivera led them back to that rural area not far from here, a remote location roughly 13 miles from Mollie's hometown where they discovered what they believe is Mollie's body in a cornfield.

Authorities say it was that surveillance tape submitted to them that showed Mollie jogging and it also showed Rivera's black Malibu car. And that's how they were able to track Rivera down. So far, authorities have not confirmed Mollie's manner of death. Police say Rivera did see Mollie prior to July 18th. Although, they could not expand on how often Rivera might have seen Mollie around town and they also would not comment on whether he was stalking her.

Now, Mollie was set to return to the University of Iowa as a sophomore. Her father is from California, he was here on the ground for a full month pleading for information, doing any interview possible because he said he wanted to keep his daughter's name in people's minds. He even went with Mollie's boyfriend, to the Iowa State Fair, to hand out flyers, to hand out pins, pleading for information.

This man was trying to find his daughter alive. And then, he returned to California just a few days ago. Authorities advised him to return to his daily life, to get back to his job. And after returning to California, a short while later, he found out that his daughter is now dead. Martha.

MACCALLUM: Matt Finn, reporting throughout on this devastating story. Here now with more, Attorney David Wohl. David, you have covered too many of these stories. We now know that this individual never should have been in this country. And it -- and it's amazing that they don't know whether he was here four years, five years, six years, or seven years.

So, they basically have no idea in a three year period whether or not he was here.

DAVID WOHL, LAWYER, AND LEGAL ANALYST: Right, and Martha, you know, Matt just indicated that they were trying to learn more about his background. Of course, you'll never really learn about his background because when someone comes here illegally, you don't know whether they escaped from a Mexican prison or jail.

You don't know about their criminal activity or criminal record when they were in Mexico. You don't know whether they've got a history of child abuse, or child neglect. You know, nothing about them because you can't vet them, you just have to accept them.

Now, this has happened on and on. We know the case of Kate Steinle, of course.

MACCALLUM: Yes.

WOHL: That man was acquitted of murder. My client's fiance Sandra Duran was killed by a man who is here illegally, who had been deported seven times, convicted of five felonies, last month he was tried and acquitted -- not acquitted. They hung on second-degree murder, he's being retried. Thankfully, the D.A. is retrying him next month.

But this goes on, and on, and on. And the left calls it political until it happens to one of their children. It's just unbelievable, I think the bottom line is that the Democrats solution of abolishing ICE is just going to sink their ship like they can't believe.

MACCALLUM: What do you expect the president might say about this case tonight? I know, the vice president has been tweeting about it this evening in memory of Mollie Tibbetts. And it does remind all of us of the Kate Steinle story, and the ramifications for so many families who never would have lost their loved one if the person who killed them was not allowed into the country.

WOHL: Yes. I mean, this has been is overwhelming number one priority since he announced his intention to run for president. When I first met him, this is all we discussed. He had families of these people who had children have been killed by illegal immigrants.

This is the thing he wants to stop with the wall, with ending sanctuary cities, with stopping catch or release, and he's being met with nothing but obstruction by the Democrats.

He is going to go on, go up over this extensively tonight. Talk about the solutions, talk about what needs to be done, and talk about the obstruction that he is being met with. This is the number one story, Martha.

Don't they -- Michael Cohen is being indicted for campaign issues that Trump had nothing to do with is secondary completely to this story, Martha. This is what parents care about.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Yes. I mean, obviously, we're going to cover it's a big foot of the story, but you know, I couldn't help but look at this crowd. Let's take a look at the crowd as they wait for the president here as he is about to appear moments away in West Virginia.

There they are gathered, and I guess you're probably right. I doubt that Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen are in the forefront of their minds as they stand there waiting for him to arrive in West Virginia where they're facing a Senate election -- Patrick Morrissey versus Joe Manchin of West Virginia and we're obviously they have some big questions about the future of coal in their country which the president has talked quite a bit about.

But immigration as you say, especially, with this backdrop, everybody's been looking at this picture of this beautiful young woman who was about to start her sophomore year going back to college at the University of Iowa, who goes for a jog, and her life is over.

She will never again wake up in the morning and head to class like she should have, David. And this is the ramifications and the -- and the meaning of this is much longer lasting, I fear than some of the other things that we're discussing.

WOHL: Oh yes, this is the type of thing that fires up Trump's base to no end. And also, I would like to congratulate Robert Mueller who has done the same thing with his indictments today. Trump's base will now be fired up beyond your wildest imagination because they love him. And they love what he does for people. And doing things for people means stopping criminal illegal aliens from preying on and killing our children, it's that simple.

MACCALLUM: David Wohl, thank you very much for being here tonight. We're going to hear more about Mollie Tibbetts as we move forward this evening.

WOHL: Thank you, Martha.

MACCALLUM: And as we have been talking about, there are other big political stories tonight, including this. Michael Cohen, the president's former personal attorney cutting a deal with federal prosecutors pleading guilty to bank and tax fraud, and campaign finance violations.

Saying that he acted "In coordination, and at the direction of a candidate for federal office." A bombshell that comes as president Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort is found guilty today on eight of the 18 counts of the Russia special counsel brought against him.

They were not really related to that part of the story, though, they were tax and bank fraud issues as we mentioned a moment ago. Chief National Correspondent Ed Henry, joins us now with these fast-breaking developments tonight as they continue. Ed.

ED HENRY, FOX NEWS CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Martha, good to see you. Tough day for the president on both fronts, Manafort to Cohen. And the Cohen case could prove to be more damaging legally and politically because the president was directly implicated.

That's a far cry from the Manafort matter which has nothing to do with the president, the 2016 campaign or allegations of Russian collusion. The former Trump campaign chair was stone-faced in a Virginia Court as he learned the jury found he's guilty on five counts of filing false income tax returns. One count, failing to file a report of a foreign bank account. Two, charges of bank fraud the jury could not reach a verdict on ten other counts.

Prosecutors could bring that case back for a retrial by the end of the month while Manafort is facing a second trial in D.C. on charges of lobbying fraud and other matters in September. There is also always the possibility Manafort will be pardoned by the president who declared that special counsel Robert Mueller's probe is officially out of control. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This has nothing to do what they started out looking for Russians involved in our campaign, there were none. I feel very badly for Paul Manafort.

Again, he worked for Bob Dole, he worked for Ronald Reagan, he worked for many, many people. And it's the way it ends up, and it was not the original mission. Believe me --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Significant, the president did not say anything there about the potentially more explosive Cohen case. Leaving it to his attorney Rudy Giuliani to provide this written statement, "There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president and 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." But that plea deal alleges that he broke the law to influence the 2016 election on behalf of an unnamed candidate who is clearly the president.

Cohen will get prison time between 43 and 63 months after pleading guilty to the campaign. Finance charges plus bank fraud, tax evasion, the campaign finance charges involve payments to two women who allege affairs with the president that he is vehemently denied, Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal.

And Cohen's plea deal directly contradicts what Giuliani told Fox back in May.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY TO PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Having something to do with paying some Stormy Daniels woman, 130,000. I mean, which is going to turn out to be perfectly legal. That money was not a campaign money. Sorry, I'm giving you a fact now that you don't know. It's not a campaign money, no campaign finance violation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, they funneled it through a law firm?

GIULIANI: Funnel through over him and the president repaid it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: That at least, raises the question about whether there is any legal jeopardy for anyone around the president involved in the campaign. Plus Stormy Daniels attorney Michael Avenatti is out tonight claiming this plea allows him to get to stay lifted in the separate civil case.

Meaning, there could be a new fight over whether the president has to give a deposition in that lawsuit. Avenatti tonight tweeted to Giuliani, "Buckle up, buttercup." So, this is far from what in front of this.

MACCALLUM: Yes, hold on to your seat. Ed, thank you very much. So, here now, Andy McCarthy, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Fox News contributor. And Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director and founder of SkyBridge Capital. Welcome gentlemen. Good to have both of you with us tonight as we wait for the president.

You can see in the box in the lower right-hand corner, he is about to make an appearance at -- in West Virginia. And we understand that he is on his way out, so let's watch and then we'll comment. Let's give it a moment. We'll just ask you a quick question.

Anthony Scaramucci, let me go to you first as we watch the president hear, your reaction to these convictions today?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Well, my heart goes out to the families and I think it's obviously a devastating situation for them. But I think as it relates to the president, I think, Mayor Giuliani is going to be correct that he is going to be shielded from both of those cases.

And so, people that are looking for the smoking gun here that's going to take out the president, it's not in those two cases. And so, we'll have to see what else happens in the Robert Mueller report, but what's clear is that you can't indict a sitting president. So, even in Mueller situation, he probably puts a report together brings it up to the Congress. And then it will be up to the Congress depending on who's controlling the Congress as to what happens.

(CROSSTALK)

MACCALLUM: Big question there. And the president is hoping to --

SCARAMUCCI: But, I don't think this hurts the president. It's bad facts, there's no question about it but I'm talking about procedurally and legally, I don't think it hurts the president.

MACCALLUM: All right, let's talk to the legal expert here, Andy McCarthy. How difficult is what happened today for the president, Andy?

ANDREW MCCARTHY, FORMER UNITED STATES ASSISTANT ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT, NEW YORK: Well, it's difficult, Martha, because as Anthony pointed out the -- you know, the political ramifications here are more meaningful than the legal ones.

The problem is that as he points out, a sitting president can't be indicted. The investigation that Mueller has been conducting has always been about impeachment and it's really up to the House of Representatives to decide what an impeachable offense is. So, the political overlay here has always been more consequential than the legal aspect of it.

MACCALLUM: Understood. But, Andy, let me stay with you for a moment, in terms of what Michael Avenatti is saying, he says that the stay will be lifted, and Stormy Daniels, we know, would like to see that nondisclosure agreement go away. She wants to talk about that.

The other big issue, potentially, is what Michael Cohen said in court today. I participated in the conduct for the purposes of influencing the election.

In terms of better election violation --

MCCARTHY: Yes.

MACCALLUM: Do you see any?

MCCARTHY: I think that there's a problem for the President and that Cohen said that he was directed by the then candidate, Donald Trump, to make these payments. Now, I should -- to split legal hairs, there's a difference between making the payments and making the required campaign finance disclosure.

But obviously, implicit in an agreement like this, is that this is not going to be disclosed. So, I don't think, legally, it amounts to a big problem but politically, it's not good.

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