Page 6 - Obstruction Question News Today

Box. this was really the key, the absolutely key test. were still waiting to hear directly from nancy pelosi. and right now house democrats are huddled behind the scenes with house counsel. so thats the lawyer that takes over and spearheads any litigation on behalf of the house of representatives. so thats where this process is right now. we are not doing impeachment proceedings, but democrats are pursuing things in the courts. so i think the question here is can nancy pelosi figure out how to t...

A single comment about the fact that we are still under attack from our most formidable foreign adversary. its just truly shocking. >> i go back. i truly dont believe he thinks its a big deal. i think that theres either two conclusions. either he knows hes worried that he did something wrong or he doesnt think its a big deal. neither should be something that makes everybody comfortable. >> and its a complete defiance of norms. there has never been an election where a political party has welcomed...

There were these communications, notwithstanding the presidents denials, the president was confronted about this, and he said two things. first of all, thats not a crime. i think you and i have already agreed that shouldnt be the standard, right? >> true. >> the second thing hes said was, why should i miss out on all those opportunities? i mean, why indeed, merely running a presidential campaign, why should you miss out on making all that money was the import of his statement. were you ever able...

Same thing. we have 19 federal prosecutors perpetrating a federal criminal investigation on a sitting president of the united states. that is exactly right. if youre saying that they didnt issue a subpoena, well, then thats a question for bob mueller and his team, not for the president of the united states. >> no, i understand that. do you think as somebody whos been on the defensive side, you said youve been a criminal defense attorney and youve dealt with these things, can you look at that and...

And answer from earlier in the day, because either he was confused by the question or he didnt clarify with the decision he wanted. for robert mueller to say that generally president trumps answers were not always truthful is a fairly stunning proclamation and not one by the way that is in the mueller report. >> and virtually, and very much in contrast to the rest of his testimony. that was the kind of question he was refusing to answer all through the hearing. so to hear him on that one occasio...

They could take those two moments and have those be the moments everybody sees over and over again? >> reporter: well, chuck, i think that question is still to be answered in terms of how the american public digests what happened today, how many people watched these hearings gavel to gavel and how much will watch summaries that include those very exchanges and those headlines are very clear. the president is constantly tweeting and claiming no collusion, no obstruction, total exoneration. robert...

Compelling testimony. >> well, theyre going into august recess, and if theyre going to get impeachment hearings started, theyve got to do it quickly or youre if full 2020 mode. >> i want to bring in somebody from the other side of the aisle, republican from north dakota, also a member of the house judiciary committee. let me start with basic question here. do you feel as if robert mueller was a compelling and truthful witness today? >> i dont feel like he was overly compelling. i think at some p...

>> i cant get into that area. >> did your investigation determine after careful vetting of rick gates and michael cohen, that you found them to be credible? >> we found the president to be credible? >> you found gates and cohen to be credible in their statements about wikileaks. >> those are areas im not going to discuss. >> okay. can you say the president was creddic. >> i cant answer that question. >> director mueller, season the it fair to say the presidents written answers were not only inad...

Ends up walking that back. >> i think there were several examples of that today. and just to be clear the olcs opinion is of course a factor, the one that says you cant indict a sitting president. but it is not the situation that the team decided that donald trump committed crimes but they couldnt say so because of the olc opinion. quite the contrary. what the report says and what mueller made clear a couple of times at the hearing today is that having marshaled the potential obstruction of just...

Have something to prove? and if so, what? >> it depends on who theyre trying to prove it to. im not sure that that view reflects kind of the majority of mainstream democratic or center leaning voters. thats always been the challenge for the democratic party and nancy pelosi. how do you give voice to the activist part of the party and to the progressive leaning side of the party without destroying your own chances for victory in a general election or to retain power in the house? the other one th...