Tonight, day one of the manafort trial. The first of the mueller era. The government argues Paul Manafort thought he was above the law, while his defense team plans to attack the star government witness against him. The president started his day declaring collusion is not a crime, ending his day with red meat for the crowd in tampa, and no talk of russia. He did declare himself the most popular republican ever. And with 98 days until the midterms, facebook announces its found fake accounts designed to further tear us apart, and well show you if they have a familiar look to them. The 11th hour begins right now. Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 558 of the Trump Administration, and day one of
the Paul Manafort trial, the first big test for Robert Mueller. It is a trial about taxes and not russia, though russia looms large in the background as it seems to in Everything Else these days. Manaforts being tried in Federal Court in alexandria, virginia. He was, of course, Trumps Campaign chairman, ran the rnc convention. Its the first of two trials for him, and this one hes looking at 18 counts of bank fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy charges in relation to his work for a prorussian party in ukraine before he went to work for the trump campaign. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. This trial is off to a lightning start. So far a jury has been seated. Opening statements have been delivered, and a witness has testified, all on day one. Manafort was a March To August Chairman back in 2016. He helped trump secure the nomination, make no mistake, and trump said so at the time. I have fantastic people. Paul manafort just came on. Hes great. He didnt need to do this, but he wanted to. Paul manafort has done an amazing job. He is here some place where. Is paul . However, more recently, as manafort was awaiting trial, the president sought to, shall we say, diminish his former campaign chairmans role. I know mr. Manafort. I havent spoken to him in a long time. But i know him. He was with the campaign as you know for a very short period of time. I tell you, i feel a little badly about it. They end with back 12 years to get things he did 12 years ago. You know, Paul Manafort worked for me for a very short period of time. He worked for me, what, 49 days . A very short period of time. Manafort is the highest Ranking Campaign personnel so far. He was part of the trump tower meaning when donald jr. And Jared Kushner had the russians come by. Also tonight multiple sources tell us Robert Mueller has referred another group of investigations to federal prosecutors up here in new york, the Southern District of new york. Those sources say that former lobbyist tony podesta, former
minnesota republican congressman vin weber, and former White House Council greg craig are all under federal investigation. The sources also say the inquiry into tony podesta, whose brother john ran the Clinton Campaign of course stem from muellers investigation into the case of Paul Manafort. As the Special Counsel and his team continue their inquiries, the president is now embracing a new line of defense. As we covered here last night, and as floated out yesterday by rudy giuliani. This morning, trump wrote on twitter, quote, collusion is not a crime, but that doesnt matter because there was no collusion except by Crooked Hillary and the democrats. Let us bring in our leadoff panel for a tuesday night. Josh gerstein was inside the
we had a pretty good sense of what prosecutors were going to say and how they were going to blame manafort for what took place here and described the luxury goods that he was indulging in and often pays for with transfers that came directly from Bank Accounts in Shell Company names in places like cypress and the grenadines. But the defense was a little more surprising, and they made this argument that somehow manaforts deputy had duped him into any wrongdoing that took place. Theyre listing all the items of his lavish lifestyle. The big one that broke through in the news media was a, correct me if im wrong, 15,000 ostrich jacket. Of course, who among us hasnt owned one of those in the past. Right. And the sums are significant, especially when you add them up. I mean, the ostrich jacket is a colorful item, but theyre talking about him spending something on the order of maybe 800,000 or a Million Dollars on suits over a few years period. So its a pretty dramatic level of spending. The suit he was wear manage the
fact that theyre going to go after the star witness. Well, yes, they are. Because what else are they going to do . In prosecutorial circles all around the country, this would be referred to as the sodi defense. Some other dude did it. Thats sort of the shorthand. They dont have much to do. And the problem for them is its a paper case. And manaforts signature is all over things, and its not probably not going to work. It doesnt usually work, and i would doubt it works in this case. Sam, i want to read you a quote from frank brunis column entitled Paul Manaforts trial is Donald Trumps too. And the Quote Is Manafort is
Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. With the 2016 campaign or his work on the inaugural committee. Its a highly separate trial involving past clients of Paul Manaforts. I think if were reading between the lines, its the prelude to something that is supposed to be bigger. Obviously the prosecutors have a case that theyre bringing here, but it does seem like theyre looking down the road to try to get or compel Paul Manafort to participate in the larger mission, which is the investigation to collusion in the trump campaign. And were all sort of waiting to see what manafort does under this type of pressure. I do agree that the case the defense he is bringing seems highly uncompelling. Basically, he is saying my underling did all this without my knowledge. Paul manafort is begging the jury to believe his story. The prosecutors are telling them here interest the resents. So hes got a really bad card to play, yet he is still playing it. It all begs the question, why. Why is he not trying to get some bigger deal done with Robert Muellers team. And i dont know if there are a great answer to this other than
he is waiting for potentially a pardon down the road. And josh, weve already had the first Strange Bedfellow in the first witness. Tad devine, he of the liberal left, he of the kerry campaign, the Bernie Sanders campaign, what was he doing testifying in this trial today . Well, he was brought in because he actually worked alongside manafort. You know, its fairly typical in these overseas Political Consulting efforts when americans go in. Its pretty normal for a republican like manafort to team up with somebody of a democratic large d u. S. Democratic background to go in and advise a here, so i got two more for you. Number one is another mechanical question. Tell the folks watching why it is that Paul Manafort, and weve established he likes him some highend menswear is able to wear a suit in court, even though we have seen his Booking Photo in the green jumpsuit as prisoners wear in that part of the state of virginia. Is it courtesy and is it because coming in a Prison Jumpsuit would be instantly visually pretty judicial . Hope they are too. All right. Well stay on it. And big thanks to our starting three tonight. Were hoping josh does not rue the day he signed up to help us cover this trial where days are long in alexandria. So to Josh Gerstein, to cynthia askney, sam stein, thank you so much to all three of you. Thank you. Good night. Coming up, from our report in the trump rally in tampa tonight, this is critical. From a Special Correspondent who went there for us to witness his first trump rally. Are you ready to take your wifi to the next level . Then you need xfinity xfi. A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Were going to have tremendous Border Security that will include the wall, that will include the wall. Now a lot of people dont know it, but weve already started the wall. We got 1. 6 billion, and weve started large portions of the wall. But were going to need even the way we negotiate, were going to need more and were going to get more. And we may have to do some pretty drastic things, but were going to get it. That would be another hint at the government shutdown. That was President Trump rallying supporters on Border Security tonight in tampa. We should point out as we always have to the president s border wall has not been started, just repairs to an older section near san diego. The president spoke for over an hour on a number of issues,
including the economy, including his contention that Merry Christmas is under siege no more, including trade immigration, the supreme court, voter id, and shopping for food. We believe that only american citizens should vote in american elections. Which is why the time has come for voter id, like Everything Else. Voter id. And if you go out and you want the buy groceries, you need a picture on a card. You need id. You go out and you want to buy anything, you need id, and you need your picture. In this country, the only time you dont need it in many cases is when you want to vote for a president , when you want to vote for a senator, when you want to vote for a governor or a congressman. Its crazy. That was the kind of thing tonight, and during the rally, the president also heaped praise
on republican congressman ron desantis who is running in floridas gubernatorial primary. With us to talk about it, david jolly, former republican congressman from florida, represented the tampa metropolitan region. He attended tonights rally in tampa, and now we can say among other things he has been to a trump rally. Also with us, lisa lehrer, National Politics reporter for the national press. Congressman, i am very interested to hear your takeaway from your first rally, and chiefly, what television doesnt convey about a trump rally. So i think some of the story lines are what we are used to. Perhaps the National Story tomorrow is really the chanting and attacks on the free press, and frankly, your colleague jim acosta other at cnn. A viral video that is now going around. The real verbal assaults, if you will, to the press. That was absolutely on display. We also saw the energy in the crowd when donald trump would address immigration matters, and frankly, antiimmigration rhetoric, if you will. Also mentions of Hillary Clinton excited the crowd. All those bread and butter
issues. Brian, what was most remarkable to me, though, and probably the thing that i will never forget, and i am wrestling with tonight is how homogeneous the crowd was. And we can decide whether or not we want to assign culpability to the president for cultivating a constituency that tonight was 99 caucasian, working class, or is that a broader National Conversation we need to have. But ill be honest with you. And i gut check myself. I asked friends and i asked other folks in the media, look around. How many african americans, how many black americans do we see tonight . And you could count them on one finger. And some of them were specifically positioned for camera shots. This was a White Working Class audience. To Donald Trumps credit, they felt he was speaking for them, not just to him, but he was speaking to their anger. Thats the one thing i wrestle with. Look, the Tampa Bay Community is a very diverse community. I represented a very diverse community. I walked into a rally tonight that was probably the most homogeneous environment ive been in decades. Im curious. How many people recognized you . Obviously youre from there. Youre republican, but youve been highly critical of this president. So i certainly received some criticisms from those who said i needed to be softer on the president. I could also have a conversation tonight, though, about how different Media Platforms divide the information that we receive, because longtime republican supporters who have not heard some of my criticisms because of where they receive their news today, they were not aware of my criticisms of the president. And so they treated me as a
friend. But certainly there were those who wanted to know why i was there, questioned my intentions. Look, i was there out of respect for those who support donald trump. I dont support him. I remain a republican, and i was there to learn from those in attendance. I leave tonight in a strong disagreement as i arrived, but it was important that i attended. Well, thank you for that assessment. Lisa, in many ways it was a standard trump rally. Just when you thought he was on the edge of being rooseveltian, he talked about actually taking office and realizing he was president. I made some notes here. He talked about washington, and he said i know the great people. I know the scum. So i figured okay, so not so rooseveltian there. Did you hear anything new tonight that he may take out on the road . I mean, it mostly did as you say seemed like the standard trump rally. It continues to be striking to me how much the president wants to run on immigration in these mid terms. That really is the central piece of his message, and its one that me believes, rightly so, resonates with his base. But i suspect what he may not be taking into account is it also resonates very strongly with
democrats. So while driving up his base could help in the senate map which is sort of tilted toward republicans to begin with, in the house it gets a little more complicated because a lot of the battleground is in the suburban districts. And by continuing to talk about these divisive issues like immigration, like the potential for a government shutdown, along with the, you know, never ending series of news about the investigation, you know, about controversial remarks, every one of those headlines is an additional shot of adrenaline into an already energized democratic grassroots. So what weve seen is protesters have become volunteers, are likely to become voters. And that level of enthusiasm is something that scares a lot of republicans, particularly when they look at the map in the house. Lisa, how concern ready you . Is the Associated Press to your knowledge about this other dynamic that david talked about . One of the viral videos of the abuse jim acosta of cnn took from the crowd we had to blur what people are wearing. We cant play what theyre yelling at him. Eric trump retweeted it. The president retweeted eric trumps tweet of the video. They were called fake news repeatedly tonight. Whats the level of concern . Well i think everybody is concerned. I thought the Times Publisher ag sulzberger made a really god point over the week. As you know, there was this back and forth after an offtherecord meeting with the president became the president made it public. He pointed out that the threats matter of course in the u. S. , but more importantly, trump is giving cover to dictators across the globe who want to suppress freedoms in places like syria, in places, you know, like the philippines, places where its really hard and very, very, very dangerous. And really, youre risking your
life to deliver impartial information. That to me seems to be the biggest danger to the press globally. And that certainly a trend that is not being helped by the president s rhetoric. Congressman, you get the last word. Steve schmidt left the party. Are you still a republican . For now, but im always one day away, brian. What we saw tonight was a big tent republican party. Unlike the big tent conversations we had in the past ten yearsing whether or not there was room for moderates, tonight we saw a big tent that invited in extremists, the wikileaks crowd, the seth rich crowd. This is a different republican party. And, you know, there will likely be a day some time in the near future perhaps on your show where i join Steve Schmidt in making a statement very much like he did. Well, as for tonight, you are our Special Correspondent of the trump rally. Thank you, brian. And our correspondent lisa lere. We thank you so much david jolly and lisa lerer of the Associated Press. Coming up, the white house resume theyre is now put to rest, done and dusted, at least for tonight. Thats next when we continue. Retired general and white
through the 2020 election as tensions between the two men have eased in recent months. The rumors reached their peak in april when nbc news reported kelly was struggling to bring order to the west wing, referred to trump as an idiot multiple times. Kelly was referred to openly by multiple members of the press dead man walking. It happened to be the same day a year ago president fired his first chief of staff, reince priebus, via twitter from air force one, famously cutting priebus loose on a rainy tarmac. The white house as openly weighed replacing kelly in recent months, and as with all Personnel Matters in the trump white house, circumstances could
change and kelly may not end up staying in his job through the 2020 election. Considering he serves at the pleasure of a president who often acts on impulse and whim. With us to talk about it, coauthor of that piece, robert costa for the national post. Robert, anyone we have of your ilk this late in the broadcast indicates we have a lot of news on a night like tonight. Your story among the pieces of news. We have been hearing, i have been hearing the president has been polling friends and associates really recently about replacing kelly, including
floating names. He has been. He has established a rapport with his generational peer in general kelly. They bond as people who have shared grievances about members of the media, about different political rivals or enemies, but the president has not been eager to make an immediate move, but he has talked to associates about mick mulvaney, nick ayer, chief of staff to Vice President pence, and even other options like secretary mnuchin, close to the soninlaw Jared Kushner and senior adviser, has been mentioned by some trump allies. Could be akin to president reagan in the late 1980s bringing in don regan. But for now the president is sticking with john kelly. We know that did not go well with don regan, especially if you ask nancy reagan back at the time. You have written a story tonight about the Koch Brothers. It was really extraordinary to read criticism of the Koch Brothers by the president this morning. The headline is trump feud with koch Network Exposes rift between populist forces and establishment gop. Youre a broadcaster yourself. Give us the viewers guide to this fight. The Koch Brothers have long been a power in republican politics. They gathered in colorado over the weekend. David koch has since retired from that famous Koch Brothers political partnership, business partnership. But charles koch, 82 years old, is very averse to President Trumps trade policies, some of his other policies, economic policies, though he does like the tax cut, as most Business People do. And because of the tariffs, the president has been pushing, he has been telling republican candidates if you stand with
President Trump on trade, then you risk not getting the koch network endorsement, which is very powerful at times, providing grassroots support, advertising support. This has vexed many Congressional Republicans who feel that though the president is not a traditional conservative, they would like traditional conservative support in such a Volatile Midterm year. Robert, whats your thought on how closely this white house this president who is, lets say, a more Avid Television viewer than most will follow the proceedings across the river in alexandria in the Paul Manafort trial . As you were talking with Josh Gerstein from politico, its really hard for the president to follow this closely because Television Cameras are not allowed inside, even reporters are not allowed inside. Its reporters scribbling on notebooks that lack of Media Attention on television could be a challenge for Paul Manafort as he tries to catch the president s attention. In federal prosecutors, Washington Post believes manafort is playing for a part. But if youre playing for
anything with President Trump you almost have to appear on television. Thats during his executive time is when he really digests the political news and thinks through his strategy for the day and for the coming months. You remind me, i should tell our viewers more often, because its Federal Court, there are no cameras and we will be relying on Courtroom Sketches through the duration of this trial. Our great friend from the Washington Post, the very able host of Washington Week on pbs, robert costa, thank you as always for coming on with us. Thank you, brian. Coming up for us, 98 days out from those midterm elections. What facebook found in its midst and took down. Tonight the company says theyre up against, quote, a determined well funded adversary will never give up, when we continue. Facebook says this morning they took down 32 phony pages
specialists focused on treating cancer. Using advanced technologies. And more precise treatments than before. Working as hard as we can doing all that we can for everyone who walks through our doors. This is Cancer Treatment centers of america. And these are the specialists were proud to call our own. Treating cancer isnt one thing we do. Its the only thing we do. Expert medicine works here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Cancer Treatment centers of america. Appointments available now. Facebook says this morning they took down 32 phony pages and accounts because of what the Company Calls coordinated inauthentic behavior. Facebook says the accounts were part of a secret campaign to influence politics reveal just 98 days before the midterms. Most of the content seemed to be focused on leftleaning causes. It included ads opposing President Trump, and ads supporting the abolition of i. C. E. , the Customs Enforcement agency. Officials say they deleted pages referring to an event called no unite the right 2, supposedly being planned for next week in washington. Facebook says the activity is consistent with techniques used by the Internet Research agency. That would be the kremlinlinked group indicted by the Special Counsel earlier this year. On capitol hill, lawmakers were united in their condemnation. Its not certain, but what looks like a Russian Agency trying to manipulate our elections. What were looking at in social media is an effort by the russians and potentially other adversaries to create social chaos, to divide america. I can say with pretty high
confidence i think this is russianrelated. These are absolute attacks on our democracy. I will be introducing thursday a sanctions bill against russia. It will be the sanctions bill from hell. Lets talk about this from security and business perspectives. With us tonight to do that, robert anderson, former fbi Assistant Director of counterintelligence. Also happens to be the former Executive Assistant Director of the bureaus Criminal Cyberresponse and services
branch where he was responsible for all criminal and cyberinvestigations worldwide. And stephanie ruhle, the veteran of the investment and banking world and host of the 9 00 a. M. Eastern time hour here on msnbc, and for good measure, the 11 00 a. M. Eastern hour here on msnbc. Welcome to you both. Robert, twopart question for you. Are you convinced this is the russians . And is this a Teaching Opportunity for those of us who look at this Facebook Page and see that its antii. C. E. And realize that too is russia . Thats the way russia tries to foment division . Yep. Great question, brian. One is i believe its absolutely russia. And i think the bigger part of this, what people need to be looking at, because were talking about the attack on the dnc in 2016, and now the attacks here on facebook, which they deleted today around 32 pages of compromised accounts is russia never left. They didnt leave after attacking us in 2016. They sat right here, and they formulated a plan of how they could attack or try to divide the country in 2018 two years later. And here we are. And when people say we havent followed up on our Intelligence Community assessments, this is what theyre talking about. Stephanie, full disclosure, i have a Family Member who works at facebook. Having said that, Isnt This The World that Mark Zuckerberg wanted . And how on earth to you corral the wild west . Im not going to feel bad for Mark Zuckerberg. This is the world he created, and maybe its a frankenstein. Maybe he created a monster. And yes, it is extremely difficult to corral it, and facebook is bringing in all sorts of allies and partners and the fbi to address this. But nobodys crying for facebook here. To the point he just made, these cyberattackers never went anywhere. They were there before the 2016 election. They remain there today. And while its our gargantuan problem, facebook has a gargantuan amount of money to address this. And with facebook not being regulated, you can say all day long if people on the hill are united this their condemnation of facebook, but theyre not forcing face bill clinton to do anything or regulating them to
do anything. Facebook could shut it down tomorrow until they have this thing solved. What would you shut down, though . There are pages going up tonight that look innocuous and just like robert would see as being russian in their invasion. You dont understand the monster you created. Were 98 days away from the midterm elections. And to Cheryl Sandbergs point that. Dont even know where this is coming from. Knowing the threat it is to our american democracy, do you really need to look up what your exboyfriend is doing these days and where he is going on Summer Vacation . Maybe not. Not until we address what the exact problem is here. Its not like facebook doesnt have the money to do it. Robert, i need you to chime in here. I tell you, i think its a tough problem. Social media is a huge attack factor for all nation states
now. Youve got to think about if this has gone on in facebook, trust me. I dont care if its russia, china, iran or any other adversary we face. Theyre watching our response to this. Ive said this before on this program many times, brian. Russias like a bully on a playground. The more you let them push you around, the more theyre going to push. There are some people in this world that dont understand please and excuse me. And youre looking at them right now, tonight. If all americans knew what you knew, robert, about russia, would any of us get any sleep tonight . Well, i dont know if wed get any sleep, but i think wed be more focused on it. The thing that really bothers me and i think it bothers a lot of americans tonight is weve been
you cover business a fair amount. You came from that world. To borrow a phrase from earlier in this countrys financial history, when facebook gets a cough, the tech economy catches a cold. And weve seen the drag on tech stocks, because i watch you on television. What to do about that portion of this . Listen, facebook, google, apples of the world have done so extraordinarily well, i wouldnt be scared about whats going to happen to peoples stock portfolios. But has the day come for these companies to invest millions, possibly billions of dollars in to becoming more responsible entities . Without a doubt. And if thats going to cost them some money, i think the market can withstand it. Robert, the world of facebook is so vast, im just trying to think of Real World Solutions short of a shutdown. Is there a worm that can detect the incoming creation of a page that could nip it in the bud and kill it during the birthing ahh. Summer is coming. And its time to get outside. Pack in even more adventure with audible. With the Largest Selection of audiobooks. Audible lets you follow plot twists off the beaten track. Or discover magic when you hit the open road. With the free audible app, your stories go wherever you do. And for just 14. 95 a month you get a credit, good for any audiobook. If you dont like it exchange it any time. No questions asked. You can also roll your credits to the next month if you dont use them. So take audible with you this summer. On the road. On the trail. Or to the beach. Start a 30day trial and your first audiobook is free. Cancel anytime, and your books are yours to keep forever. No matter where you go this summer make it better with audible. Text summer17 to 500500 to start listening today. Who here thinks that Zero Tolerance has been a success . You can just raise your hand if you think its been a success. Who thinks that the Family Separation Policy has been a success . Raise your hand. So that was less thanrousing connecticut democratic senator Richard Blumenthal questioning federal officials during todays Senate Judiciary hearing on the Trump Administrations socalled Zero Tolerance Immigration Policy which resulted in nearly 3,000 children being separated
from their parents. Zero tolerance a reminder started in april, ended in midjune after growing public outrage and press coverage. Again today, someone else described these migrant shelters for children as a summer camp. This time it was an Administration Official and some of these shelters are inside former Big Box Retail stores without windows. Another report in the New York Times paints a much different picture. It details the trauma children can experience after reunification of their families saying many of the children released to their parents are Exhibiting Signs of anxiety, intro version, regression, and other Mental Health issues. One mother tells the paper that the change in her 5yearold son is particularly concerning. He Loved Playing With The Yellow Impish mignon characters from the movies. Now his favorite game is patting down and shack o shackling migrants with plastic cuffs. It was pointsed out the impact on children should not have been a surprise to anyone. One Republic Health official testified the trump
administration had been warned long before the policy was put in place. During the deliberative process over the previous year, we raised a number of concerns in the or program about any policy which would result in Family Separation. Theres no question that separation of children from parents entails significant potential for traumatic psychological injury to the child. Na official says he was assured by the government that Family Separation would not be implemented. With more than 700 Migrant Children still considered ineligible for family reunification, illinois democratic senator dick durbin wants someone held responsible. I am today calling on the architect of this humanitarian Disaster Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen to step down. The Family Separation Policy is more than a bureaucratic lapse in judgment. It is and was a cruel policy inconsistent with the bedrock values of this nation. Someone, someone in this administration has to accept responsibility. Dick durbin calling for the resignation of the boss at Homeland Security. Coming up, the Trump Administration moves on to the cars we drive and the air we breathe and an argument some folks found hard to believe when we continue. Last thing before we go is about your car and our air. Documents obtained by the Associated Press show that the Trump Administration was at least planning to argue with a straight face, stay with me here, that freezing Emission Standards for cars choosing not to get tougher on the pollution that cars produce over years, is actually for your own good. Because the argument goes, people would drive more and be exposed to increased risk if their cars get better gas mileage. The Draft Document says people will drive less if their vehicles get fewer miles per
gallon lowering the risk of crashes. The ap in typical solid a. P. Style plainly begins its second paragraph this way, Transportation Experts dispute the arguments. This is in general part of the Trump Administration goal to reduce regulations and be pro Business Community wherever possible, especially if its an obama era regulation. Indeed in this case, Tough New Fuel Standards were put in in the latter part of the obama administration. If you know cars, then you know that since the 60s, theres been something called california emissions. Its part of the clean air act. Its designed to cut down on the unique type of smog that once plagued california. It means the cars sold in california are different, they burn cleaner. And the fuel sold in california is different. It burns cleaner. Thats been the way it is for almost half a century. The Trump Administration wants top challenge the ability after california, home to 40 million americans to enforce its own Emission Standards. About a dozen other states follow californias rules. And we will follow this story as it moves on down the road. That is our broadcast
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