Page 6 - Obstruction Angle News Today

Latest departure from the trump cabinet and how the president plans to fill this particular job. but first, as they say, two reports today with major possible implications on the obstruction angle of the mueller investigation. "the new york times" first on the board, "washington post" quickly followed, to report president trumps former lead counsel in the russia case, john dowd, spoke last year with lawyers for former national security adviser michael flynn and one-time trump campaign manager pa...

Our nbc news headquarters here in new york. day 433 of the trump administration. another great day for all those involved in the newspaper war that this administration has sparked. not a great day to be the now-former va secretary, and in a moment well talk about the latest departure from the trump cabinet and how the president plans to fill this particular job. but first, as they say, two reports today with major possible implications on the obstruction angle of the mueller investigation. "the ...

The probe at a certain date? >> no. that doesnt happen. so, the investigators will take their investigation where it goes and they are going to stay within the parameters of the regulations, but they are going to -- theres so many different aspects of that investigation. there is a money piece. there is the dnc hacking piece. there is the russian influence we already saw the indictment of russian nationals and russian entities for using social media and other mechanisms to try to influence u.s. ...

Protecting donald trump. so hes frustrated. i dont have that piece of the puzzle quite yet on whether the special counsel is asking directly about that line on jeff sessions on obstruction. but i can tell you, chris, that those who have sat for interviews say that it seems like they know what theyre doing and they very something pretty concrete pretty clear on donald trump himself. and not just on the obstruction angle but rather on the coordination or collusioning and. >> yeah, it sounds like t...

Activity to counter that threat. that is a national security threat that he is not in my view conducting his actual role as president by ignoring it and not bringing the whole of government response to address it. >> yeah. >> and so part of what the special counsel is trying to get at is why the president a, tried to shut down this investigation multiple times. so part of it speaks to the potential obstruction angle. and b, why from a foreign policy and national security perspective he continues...

Been launched. president of the united states refused to acknowledge that fact that the russians deliberately tried to influence the election and has not directed any activity to counter that threat. that is a national security threat that he is not in my view conducting his actual role as president by ignoring it and not bringing the whole of government response to address it. >> yeah. >> and so part of what the special counsel is trying to get at is why the president a, tried to shut down this...

He will ultimately need to go to the president. as we keep hearing, he only has one shot at it. when he goz him, hes going to have to have clear in his 3450i7bd the types of things he already knows about the obstruction angle and also the things he knows about the potential collusion angle which is why the story today is so interesting. it shows hes not -- hes pursuing two paths of the investigation equally. not just the obstruction which is the more public-facing angle, but also the collusion a...

Far more money to democratic candidates than bob mueller ever has. i mean and its not even a close call. so youre right. when they say this is a democratic witch hunt and you have andrew mccabe, who i guess hes a republican, because he voted in the republican primary. but didnt vote in the general election, you basically have republicans around here, that are the main players in this so-called democratic, this democratic cover-up for hillary clinton. and this democratic witch hunt on donald trum...

Jeremy said earlier on the program that person of interest is really not a phrase thats used in fbi investigations or justice department prosecutions. so usually that language would pertain to the subject of the investigation or target. so it is very unclear and i think i know this is recent reporting. it is unclear of what it means. on the obstruction point, there is really is the obstruction angle is aery interesting legal angle thats developed and with the reporting that comes out in the past...

Thats the two simple lessons that can be inferred from this. >> weve got our fbi guy here. what do you think of that statement? >> i think its a lesser charge. i think that because the schedule got delayed. theres probably a cooperation around a lesser charge. which may or may not have to do with are ush sha. weve seen more reporting on turkey which seems far more damning. we also should remember that while weve been focusing on the obstruction angle of this investigation this morning, this star...