CNN host Chris Cuomo said Thursday that President Donald Trump is unlikely to mirror Bill Clinton and "comply with a subpoena" due to the White House's "problems with the truth," failing to mention that Clinton was impeached for lying to a grand jury.
The subject on CNN's "New Day" was adult film actress Stephanie Clifford—also known as "Stormy Daniels"—and how she received a $130,000 payment from Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen before the 2016 election. She filed a lawsuit in California this week asking to nullify a non-disclosure agreement preventing her from discussing the alleged affair she had with Trump before he was president, saying Trump did not sign it.
Cuomo noted before introducing a clip of White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that "lying is troubling for a presidency." Sanders told reporters that Trump was not aware of Cohen's payment, but she said Trump already won an arbitration case against Clifford, which Clifford's lawyers called "ludicrous."
Cuomo said Sanders' comments about Trump being involved in arbitration put the president more directly into the sordid case, and guest Van Jones said Sanders could not be counted on to spin the "sleaze" around her.
"Bill Clinton—'what's the definition of is'—he's still getting beaten up for that 25 years later," Jones said.
"To your point, it makes it much less likely that we ever see him [Trump] do what Bill Clinton did, which is comply with a subpoena and testify in front of a grand jury or anywhere," Cuomo said. "I don't see how it happens when they have these kind of problems with the truth."
Jones said Trump would "tell 20 lies" before he got to the room.
Clinton complied with the subpoena so far as agreeing to testify in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit, but he was impeached on perjury and obstruction charges over false statements he made to the grand jury about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The Senate acquitted him on both counts and he served out the remainder of his second term.
Earlier in the program, Cuomo did refer to Clinton's perjury by suggesting that lying to the FBI would put Trump "right back where Clinton was many years ago."