Why CNN is standing by a Michael Cohen story that his lawyer calls false

Lanny Davis, who has been engaged in high-stakes crisis management and political lawyering for decades, says he made a mistake.
CNN, which relied on Davis at least in part for a story he now says is false, won't say it made a mistake.
And the contretemps contains a revealing look at the sausage-making of investigative reporting and the sometimes murky dance between reporters and their unnamed sources.
Davis, who I've found to be a straight shooter over a quarter century dating back to the Clinton scandals, told me in a telephone interview yesterday that he had made an error and regrets it.
"I should not be talking to reporters on background about something I'm not certain about," Davis told me, describing his interactions with CNN reporters. "The combination of big stakes and a big mistake is a bad moment for me. If I had a redo in life, I wouldn't have said anything about the subject."
After initially saying nothing, here is the sum total of CNN's comment: "We stand by our story, and are confident in our reporting of it." A CNN report yesterday said that Davis kept changing his story in his dealings with the network.

Here's the backstory: CNN dropped a bombshell last month by reporting that Davis' client, Michael Cohen, had information that Donald Trump knew in advance of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between his son, his son-in-law, campaign chairman and a Russian lawyer. "Cohen is willing to make that assertion to special counsel Robert Mueller," according to "the sources," CNN said.
The president has repeatedly denied any advance knowledge of the meeting.
The story, whose bylines included Carl Bernstein and Jim Sciutto, was picked up by the broadcast networks and many other major media organizations.
But now Davis has outed himself as an anonymous source for CNN, and says Cohen has no such information about advance knowledge by the president.
In my interview, Davis said he told CNN reporters that he couldn't confirm the Trump Tower allegation but encouraged them to check it out. He now believes they may have interpreted this as giving them a green light.
"When I work for a client, whether it's the White House or anybody else, and there's something that might be true but I'm not sure, I have to not expect reporters to get it right," Davis told me. He said he should have been more explicit in telling the CNN journalists not to pursue an unsubstantiated story.
Davis added that he did not intentionally mislead CNN's Anderson Cooper in saying he wasn't a source for the network. He meant that he wasn't a confirming source on the Trump Tower allegation over and says he should have been more clear.
Implicit in CNN standing by the story is that the network has other sources for the Trump Tower allegation. But how could others have information about what Cohen believes when the president's former lawyer is essentially saying, through Davis, that he has no such information?
Cohen, of course, pleaded guilty last week to bank fraud, tax evasion and campaign finance violations related to hush money payments to two women making accusations against Trump.
The president, of course, has boasted about Davis' admission on Twitter.
The Washington Post handled its dealings with Davis very differently. The Post had also dealt with him as an unnamed source.
As the paper recounts, the day after the CNN story, "The Post reported that Cohen had told associates that he witnessed an exchange in which Trump Jr. told his father about an upcoming gathering in which he expected to get information about Clinton. The Post did not report that Trump Jr. told his father that the information was coming from Russians.
"The information in the Post story, which was attributed to one person familiar with discussions among Cohen's friends, came from Davis, who is now acknowledging his role on the record."
And that’s the thing. CNN doesn’t have to protect Davis, who has come clean about his role in the matter.
When the White House makes a mistake or clings to an unsubstantiated charge, news organizations hammer top officials about it. Shouldn't a network have the same obligation to explain itself when an explosive story is denied by one of its own sources?
Davis says he has learned a valuable lesson, and is "pulling back" on other claims he has made. The Washington lawyer told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow there were indications that Trump knew in advance of the hacking of Democratic emails.
He said that was his belief but that he had no hard evidence to back it up.
Lanny Davis has owned up to his mistake. We'll have to see what lessons are drawn by other players in this melodrama.
Howard Kurtz is a Fox News analyst and the host of "MediaBuzz" (Sundays 11 a.m.). He is the author "Media Madness: Donald Trump, The Press and the War Over the Truth." Follow him at @HowardKurtz. Click here for more information on Howard Kurtz.

Soros-backed Gillum to square off against Trump-backed DeSantis in key Florida test

Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who secured Florida’s GOP gubernatorial nomination on Tuesday, wasted little time before depicting his new Democratic rival as a candidate who wants to make “Florida Venezuela.”
DeSantis, who was backed by President Trump, appeared on the “Ingraham Angle” following his win, and denounced his competitor, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, as “the most liberal candidate that the Democratic Party has ever nominated in the state of Florida by a country mile in a governor’s race.”
Gillum’s unexpected win was seen as a huge win for the newly emerging progressive wing of the democratic party, and Tuesday's outcomes immediately transformed the nation’s largest swing state into one of the key gubernatorial campaigns in the country.

I’m trying to make Florida even better, he wants to make Florida Venezuela.
- U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla.

The mayor received an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and was congratulated by newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The Miami Herald reported that he also benefited from “a financial boost from billionaires Tom Steyer and George Soros.”
DeSantis will test Trump’s grip on a crucial state he won in 2016.

Andrew Gillum addresses his supporters after winning the Democrat primary for governor on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2018, in Tallahassee, Fla.  (AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

The two will compete to replace outgoing Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
“(Gillum) wants to abolish ICE; he wants a billion-dollar tax increase; he wants a single payer health care system in Florida, which would bankrupt the state. I’m trying to make Florida even better. He wants to make Florida Venezuela,” DeSantis said, adding that Gillum’s tenure as mayor has been “absolutely disastrous.”
The Herald reported that DeSantis is a member of the Freedom Caucus who wants a border wall.
During the campaign, Gillum often said he was the only candidate that wasn’t a millionaire or billionaire, and spent the least of his Democratic rivals.
After winning the Democratic nomination, Gillum thanked supporters who embraced “our plan for a state that makes room for all of us, not just the well-heeled and the well-connected, but all of us.”
DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer and Harvard-educated Iraq War veteran, entered the race in January and has since made frequent appearances on Fox News. DeSantis, won Tuesday’s GOP gubernatorial primary, beating state Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam.
Blaise Ingoglia, the chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, told The Herald that he welcomes the challenge, saying, “progressive-slash-socialist candidates just don’t perform well in general elections.”

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Kavanaugh's confirmation climb: Partisan opposition to court picks intensifies under Trump

Once upon a time, Supreme Court nominees stood a good chance of garnering broad bipartisan support.
Those days are gone.
As Brett Kavanaugh, President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, prepares for hearings on Capitol Hill, he can expect a far more polarized and partisan confirmation process than even the grueling nomination fights of recent administrations.
Dating back to Gerald Ford’s presidency, most Supreme Court nominees – even when facing ardent opposition – eventually won some bipartisan support during a final confirmation vote.
Kavanaugh, if confirmed, is facing the possibility of an airtight party-line vote. This, after Justice Neil Gorsuch won confirmation on a relatively narrow 54-45 vote.
To be sure, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell shares responsibility for setting the intensely partisan tone over court nominees, by refusing to consider then-President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland in 2016.
But the Trump era has witnessed perhaps the most consistently polarized judicial confirmation process for Supreme Court nominees in modern times.

Supreme Court confirmation votes since 1975

Neil Gorsuch -- 54-45
Merrick Garland -- NA
Elena Kagan -- 63-37
Sonia Sotomayor -- 68-31
Samuel Alito -- 58-42
Harriet Miers -- NA
John Roberts -- 78-22
Stephen Breyer -- 87-9
Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- 96-3
Clarence Thomas -- 52-48
David Souter -- 90-9
Anthony Kennedy -- 97-0
Robert Bork -- 42-58
Antonin Scalia -- 98-0
William Rehnquist -- 65-33
Sandra Day O'Connor -- 99-0
John Paul Stevens -- 98-0

Before Kavanaugh was even announced, some Democratic senators made clear they would not consider voting for him.
“He’s a deeply, deeply conservative justice, way out of the mainstream,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor after it was made official.
Conservatives have pushed back, suggesting Democrats are against anyone Trump nominates. To make that point, they pounced on a mistake by the Women’s March, an organization that sent out a press release slamming Trump’s nominee as “extremist” but forgot to replace the placeholder “XX” in the text with Kavanaugh’s name.
“This was in some cases quite literally a fill-in-the-blank opposition,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a floor speech. “They wrote statements of opposition only to fill in the name later.”
But uncompromising opposition to high court nominees may be the new norm under the Trump administration.
Trump’s first pick for the court, Gorsuch, won just three votes from Democrats last year.
It hasn’t always been this way: Under Ford, John Paul Stevens was confirmed 98-0. Under then-President Ronald Reagan, Sandra Day O’Connor was confirmed 99-0; William Rehnquist was confirmed 65-33; Antonin Scalia was confirmed 98-0 and Anthony Kennedy was confirmed 97-0.
Under then-President George H.W. Bush, David Souter was confirmed 90-9. Under Bill Clinton, Stephen Breyer was confirmed 87-9, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed 96-3.
PENCE 'VERY ENCOURAGED' BY REACTION ON CAPITOL HILL TO KAVANAUGH
Under George W. Bush, John Roberts was confirmed 78-22 and Samuel Alito was confirmed on a tighter 58-42. Under President Barack Obama, Elena Kagan was confirmed 63-37 and Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed 68-31.
Of course, during that time period, there were a few high-profile examples of polarizing picks who faced ardent opposition, including those barely confirmed or who never made it out of the confirmation process.
Aside from Garland, Robert Bork’s nomination was famously rejected by the Senate in 1987. Clarence Thomas squeaked by in 1991 by in a 52-48 vote.
Harriet Miers withdrew her 2005 nomination amid questions about her qualifications.
Alex Pappas is a politics reporter at FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlexPappas.

Trump says he's 'terminating' NAFTA, announces new trade agreement with Mexico

President Trump on Monday said he plans to terminate the existing North American Free Trade Agreement, as he announced a new tentative agreement between the United States and Mexico that he described as "one of the largest trade deals ever made."
"I'll be terminating the existing deal and going into this deal," the president said in the Oval Office, calling it a "big day for trade."
But the president said Monday “we’ll see” if Canada can still be part of the trade pact, leaving open the possibility of separate agreements.
"We are starting negotiations with Canada pretty much immediately," Trump said.
Trump, sitting at the Resolute Desk, put Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on his speaker phone as the press watched in the Oval Office. The Mexican president, speaking through a translator, congratulated the negotiators on both sides and expressed hope the United States and Canada would come to an agreement. 
Later, the White House said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau congratulated Trump. "The leaders discussed US - Canada trade and agreed to continue productive conversations," White House officials said.
Earlier in the day, Trump said he wanted to get rid of the name “NAFTA” because it has bad connotations. He said he planned to call the deal the "United States-Mexico Trade Agreement" instead.
The United States Trade Representative called the U.S.-Mexico deal a “preliminary agreement in principle, subject to finalization and implementation.”
“They used to call it NAFTA, we are going to call it the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, and we will get rid of the name NAFTA,” Trump said. “It has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA.”
Trump on Monday called it "one of the largest trade deals ever made." The U.S. and Mexico have been working to resolve key differences on issues ranging from automobiles to energy.
According to a fact sheet from the United States Trade Representative, the agreement includes new rules of origin to incentivize manufacturers to source goods and materials in North America – including requiring 75 percent of auto content be made in the United States and Mexico.
Officials in Canada, though, on Monday still expressed optimism over a deal.
“Canada is encouraged by the continued optimism shown by our negotiating partners,” a spokesman for Canada's minister of foreign affair, Chrystia Freeland, said Monday. “Progress between Mexico and the United States is a necessary requirement for any renewed NAFTA agreement.”
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump often railed against the trade pact as “the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere.”
Trump and Peña Nieto have been working for the past five weeks to iron out their bilateral differences so Canada can rejoin the talks to update NAFTA. The U.S. and Mexico wanted to finalize an agreement this month so that it can be signed ahead of Mexican President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s inauguration in December.
One of the biggest issues on the negotiating table deals with car manufacturing jobs, as the Trump administration pushes for a deal that would boost factory employment in the U.S.
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Mexican Secretary of Economy Idelfonso Guajardo were seen walked together Monday into the White House without talking to reporters. The delegation also included Jesus Seade, a World Trade Organization veteran tapped by Lopez Obrador as his future chief trade negotiator.
The U.S. on Thursday agreed to keep the 2.5 percent tariff currently applied under World Trade Organization rules if the cars are made at factories that already exist, which leaves open the possibility that automobiles that are built at new plants could face tariffs of 20 percent to 25 percent.
Trump has also signaled that he is open to negotiating trade deals with Mexico and Canada separately, while both countries have said they want to keep the three-nation trade deal that dates back to 1994.
Earlier in August, Trump threatened Canada with auto tariffs if the U.S. and Canada can't forge a deal.
"Canada must wait," Trump tweeted. "Their Tariffs and Trade Barriers are far too high. Will tax cars if we can't make a deal!"
Canada responded with a statement Friday night, saying: "Our focus is unchanged. We'll keep standing up for Canadian interests as we work toward a modernized trilateral NAFTA agreement."
Adam Austen, a spokesman for Canada's foreign minister, added: "We're glad Mexico and the U.S. continue to work out their bilateral issues. It's the only way we'll get to a deal."

California lawmakers approve tougher restrictions on firearms possession, report says

California Gov. Jerry Brown will reportedly consider three bills intended to add restrictions on gun ownership in his state.  (AP)

Lawmakers in California on Monday sent three bills to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk that call for stricter restrictions on firearms in a state that has one of the toughest gun laws in the country.
The bill was sent to Brown’s desk one day after a gunman opened fire at a gaming event in Florida, killing two before turning the gun on himself.
The Los Angeles Times reported that the bills call for a lifetime ban for those convicted of domestic violence along with those ordered by a court to a psychiatric hold twice in one year.
State lawmakers have also called for Californians interested in obtaining a concealed weapon permit to undergo eight hours of instruction and pass a live-fire test before being granted the permit, the report said.
Most Republicans opposed the concealed-carry measure, warning that there is no limit on the amount of training a county can demand for the permit under the proposed law.
The state is known to have tight gun laws. Those convicted of domestic violence in the state currently face a 10-year probation, the report said. The state also currently enforces a five-year ban for those ordered by a court into a psychiatric holds, the report said.
“If you want to have a loaded gun in public, you need to show that you know what you are doing,” Todd Gloria, a Democratic assemblyman, told The Times.

Cohen lawyer admits he was anonymous CNN source for bombshell story on Trump Tower meeting

Lanny Davis, the high-powered attorney of President Trump’s longtime “fixer”-turned-foe Michael Cohen, admitted Monday he was an anonymous source for a bombshell CNN story on the infamous 2016 Trump Tower meeting — after The Washington Post outed him as a source for its own story.
Davis told BuzzFeed News Monday night he regretted being the anonymous source as well as his subsequent denial. The CNN story, which cited multiple “sources,” claimed Cohen said President Trump knew in advance about the Trump Tower sit-down.
“I made a mistake,” Davis told BuzzFeed.
CNN, which has stood by its reporting, did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Davis spent recent days walking back his bombshell assertions that his client could tell Special Counsel Robert Mueller that Trump had prior knowledge of the meeting with a Russian lawyer discussing potentially damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
Trump has denied knowledge all along, and fired back following CNN’s report last month.
“I did NOT know of the meeting with my son, Don jr. Sounds to me like someone is trying to make up stories in order to get himself out of an unrelated jam (Taxi cabs maybe?). He even retained Bill and Crooked Hillary’s lawyer. Gee, I wonder if they helped him make the choice!” Trump tweeted on July 27.
The CNN report from July 27 headlined, “Cohen claims Trump knew in advance of 2016 Trump Tower meeting,” cited “sources with knowledge,” contradicting repeated denials by Trump and his surrogates, as Fox News previously reported. CNN’s report resulted in countless cable news segments and sent other news organizations scurrying to match.
Among them was The Washington Post. On Sunday, the newspaper published an interview in which Davis backpedaled.
Davis, attempting to clean up his comments in interviews last week after Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations, tax evasion and bank fraud, told the Post he “should have been more clear” that he “could not independently confirm what happened.”
Davis said he regretted his “error.”
“Davis’s latest comments cast doubt on what Cohen may know, including about a June 2016 meeting in New York’s Trump Tower attended by Trump’s eldest son and a Russian lawyer,” the Post wrote on Sunday night.
Davis started walking back the allegations last week, when during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, he was asked whether there was evidence that Trump knew about the meeting before it happened.
“No, there’s not,” Davis said.
He told BuzzFeed on Monday night about his comments to Cooper: “I did not mean to be cute.”
Fox News' Brian Flood and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Frank Miles is a reporter and editor covering sports, tech, military and geopolitics for FoxNews.com. He can be reached at Frank.Miles@foxnews.com.

Russian Hacking Vote Cartoons