Page 5 - Obstruction Count News Today

The other thing that when you read what the special counsel appointed. any contact between the campaign and russians. if paul manafort lied about that. that goes to the heart of it whether or not something that happens at that meeting. thats the core of the investigation. those kinds of contact. >> carol, what about you? one thing to remember is the high burden of proof that attaches to a criminal investigation. borrowing an actual recording of a meeting or an untrue witness which we have of man...

Will follow through and will care more about manafort than trump. thats not a very good bet because trump only cares about trump. right now if he pardons manafort its going to be an obstruction count. >> trump doesnt care if he does things that highly unusual or unethical. the only thing that will stop him is the law. >> he does things that are in his interest. if it was in his interest to pardon manafort right now, he would do it but he knows its not in his interest because hes staring down the...

Happened to suggest this, didnt act on it, trump was basically shooting his mouth off? would that be somebody in that position -- >> every time i hear an attorney talking with his client -- of course, don mcgahn is the white house counsel, not president trumps personal attorney general -- attorney general. i will just say that, you know, legal live speakily speaking th charge that theres an underlying charge of collusion in order for mueller to charge an obstruction count. we all know that. i th...

Guilty to two charges, conspiracy against the united states and conspiracy to obstruct justice. >> the conspiracy against the united states charge encompassed the bank fraud, tax fraud. the obstruction count had to do with his alleged witness tampering more recently where he reached out to witnesses to get them to change their stories. >> it deal required manafort to forfeit ill-gotten gains made through his garage lnt schemes. five new york properties in total, including his new york trump towe...

Presidents tweets. hes been mad at sessions for a long time. what do you make of him actually discussing firing him with people in the white house? >> i agree with you its not exactly news. hes been trying to bully this guy to resign for a long time. i think its a sign of frantic behavior. look at the position hes in. manafort is convicted and is about to be convicted again. cohen has flipped. immunity has been given. his white house counsel has given 30 hours of testimony to mueller. i think he...

Will tell you i think its grounds for an obstruction count, because all of his tweets, all of his statements to don mcgahn that he wants him to fire him, all of his statements to fox news and certainly what we received from the "washington post" tonight. all of that is evidence of a possible obstruction count. its not that different from, lets say, pardoning manafort is evidence of an obstruction count. >> according to the "washington post," his attorneys rudy giuliani and jay sekulow advised hi...

>> it. >> it gets worse. >> on a monday, its a fire hose and continues to dribble throughout the week. do you believe theres evidence, john dean, that the president obstructed justice? >> well, i think were accumulating a state of mind that could, indeed lead to a charge of obstruction. technically he cant be gooit indi indicted for it because he is president. it could lead to an impeachment, though. we dont have all the facts, don, but what we do have certainly indicates he doesnt want an inves...

>> his perjury was used as an obstruction count as well. same with nixon, nixon was charged with obstruction as well although it never got to the vote of the house. >> the presidents lawyer claiming the president cannot obstruct justice. is he grasping at straws or is he right? >> partly hes grasping at straws. even in the nixon era, the president of the united states can obstruct justice, and president nixon did, as john deal well knows. there was a slush fund that was in existence. there was a...

Said he should have been fired. did he do the right thing in their view for the wrong reason? thats something we usually dont debate a great deal in terms of a criminal charge. you look for something a little more clear. youre also right, joe, that in the nixon case, the articles of impeachment did include an obstruction count. keep in mind those were anchored in pretty serious crimes, burglaries and slush funds. were still in search of that crime. >> that, of course, mike barnicle is exactly wh...

>> no. theres two reasons why thats not the case. first of all, if a president abuses his power, he actually can be subject to impeachment. the nixon articles of impeachment did include an obstruction count. i think theres distinguishing factors. it is analogous to this one. i dont believe we satisfy that standard either. youre going to have adam chiffon who was my opposing counsel in the last impeachment held in the united states senate, courteous trial. we were on either side of that case. i t...