Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie discuss Michael Flynn's sentencing memo
Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, former Trump campaign officials and allies to President Trump, discussed Michael Flynn and the Russia investigation on this week's episode of "The Takeout" podcast, hosted by CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett. The two doubted that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whose cooperation was praised this week by the special counsel, had much information of value to share with the government.
"His time around Trump happened during the transition -- his knowledge is limited to three to four months," Bossie said. Lewandowski and Bossie also repeated that Russian interference in 2016 had no impact on President Trump's election.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's office released a sentencing memo Tuesday on Flynn, who agreed to cooperate with the special counsel last year after admitting that he lied to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian envoy during the presidential transition.
The two expressed confusion as to why Flynn would lie about his contacts with Russian officials during the transition. They also discussed K.T. McFarland, Flynn's deputy, who admitted she lied to the Senate about Russian contacts before Mr. Trump was inaugurated. Lewandowski said that Flynn was not trying to protect Mr. Trump by lying.
"I like Flynn and K.T. -- not Cohen 'the rat' and Manafort -- but they think they're smarter than everybody else so they lie. There's nothing to protect," Lewandowski said, referring to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort. Cohen recently pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, and the special counsel's office accused Manafort of breaching his plea deal by lying to investigators last month. The special counsel is expected to file sentencing memos for Cohen and Manafort on Friday.
Bossie called Cohen and Manafort "criminals." He claimed that Cohen was only involved with the Trump Organization, not the campaign. Cohen pleaded guilty to using campaign funds to pay off two women who allegedly had affairs with Mr. Trump in August.
The two claimed that the special counsel investigation would not exist without the Steele dossier, disagreeing with GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy, who recently said the probe would have started without the dossier. Bossie said in response that "one (view) is right and one is wrong," and that his and Lewandowski's view on the dossier was the right one. They criticized other members of Congress involved in the investigation, such as Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chairman Mark Warner, with Bossie calling him a "partisan hack."
Bossie and Lewandowski also spoke about former President George H.W. Bush, who died late last week. Mr. Trump attended Mr. Bush's funeral in Washington on Wednesday. The two noted that one of Mr. Bush's unfortunate legacies was raising taxes as president after promising not to do so as a candidate, which caused conservatives to turn against him.
"I think, looking back, probably the single line unfortunately that George Herbert Walker Bush will always be remembered for is, 'Read my lips, no new taxes,'" Lewandowski said, referring to an infamous campaign promise by Mr. Bush. "The Republican Party basically abandoned him because he left his principles and did what he thought was right for the country."
"He got a little bit of what he deserved at that time," Bossie said, about Mr. Bush being booted from office after the tax increase.
Lewandowski and Bossie recently published a book titled "Trump's Enemies," which recently reached the New York Times bestseller list.
For more of Major's conversation with Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, download "The Takeout" podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, or Spotify. New episodes are available every Friday morning. Also, you can watch "The Takeout" on CBSN Friday at 5pm, 9pm, and 12am ET and Saturday at 1pm, 9pm, and 12am ET. For a full archive of "The Takeout" episodes, visit www.takeoutpodcast.com. And you can listen to "The Takeout" on select CBS News Radio affiliates (check your local listings).
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