Good evening from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 557 of the Trump Administration, 99 days now until the mid term elections. And this might go down as the day we witnessed a change resulting in the new defense strategy. It is about something Rudy Giuliani has started to say. In the days after the president ial election Donald Trumps advisers had a message about contacts between russians and members of the campaign team. In the ensuing months as numerous such communications were revealed the message changed. There was no collusion with russias effort to disrupt the election. On monday President Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani presented a third line of defense, even if mr. Trump did collude with the russians he committed no crime. My client didnt do it. Even if he did it it is not a
crime. Hacking is the crime. The president didnt hack. He didnt pay for the hacking he said on cnn. The article goes on. It is just a word choice, said a Criminal Law Professor at georgetown. Im s
Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Beforehand. Rudy giulianis answer to that was, nobody can be sure of anything. With Defense Lawyers like that, who needs prosecutors . So why Hasnt Donald Trump replaced his weak, Tv Defense Lawyer who is doing a terrible job of defending donald trump . Well, there are a few real possibilities and rational possibilities for that. One is that donald trump doesnt know what good lawyering looks like and sounds like. After all Michael Cohen was Donald Trumps lawyer for years. The same Michael Cohen who Rudy Giuliani now describes this way. The way is unethical. Is a scum bag. He is a horrible person. Will Donald Trumps next lawyer be describing Rudy Giuliani that way some day . Another reason he has not been fired is that it is actually impossible to do a better job of defending donald trump. That might just be it. It is impossible to do any better than giuliani has done. He goes into Tv Interview
Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. This will play out. Which, as of tonight, could serve as the headline for the status of everything. Still under investigation by the special prosecutor. Unclear how this will play out. Leading off our discussion now, joyce nance, former special prosecutor. And former counsel to the mayor of New York City and eugene robinson, Opinion Writer for the washington post. Hes an msnbc political analyst. And you are a former federal prosecutor also. What do you make of the giuliani conditions for the interview . Well, in fairness i was in the Civil Division of the u. S. Attorneys office. I will say that unfortunately giuliani has become someone whose career is not going to be looked at quite the same light as it was before this because he really had a storied career. And what were seeing is just
this complete disintegration of what was a credible lawyer into someone who has lost all credibility. While
Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Rudy giuliani told politico today that the trump team wants to rule outofbounds about half of what Robert Mueller wants to discuss the president. Quote, we dont want questioning on obstruction. They would have to concede that. Robert mueller would not be allowed to ask President Trump what he said to james comey about the fbi investigation of michael flynn. James comey says that the president told him, i hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting flynn go. Hes a good guy. I hope you can let this go. The only area that the trump team would consider allowing is how donald trump and his campaign interacted with russians during the president ial campaign. A week after reports that trumps personal lawyer Michael Cohen is willing to testify that donald trump knew about the meeting in tru
Eastern, upstairs to Harris Faulkner for an incredible show. Harris lets start with this, the President Trump ramping up his threat to force the government shut down before the Midterm Election. This is demand to fund a portable are not meant. And thats what he says he will do. Lets go out numbered over time, im Harris Faulkner. A fiery president at a rally in pennsylvania last night saying shut down could be in the cards of his demands on Border Security are not met. Adding that he would prefer that to happen before the Midterm Election not after. We started the wall 1. 6 million, we are fixing walls all over the border, and we are going to start to get very nasty over the wall. The democrats, anything i want, that even the republicans. I dont know if they care about the republicans, they care about me. Theyre very concerned. Interviews with newsmakers and roundtable discussions cover the top news stories of the day. Now, while many think that the president sees this as a negotiating