Page 12 - Steele Report News Today

Said that the president wanted mcgahn to put out a statement denying that he had been asked to fire the special counsel, end quote. did mcgahn do what the president asked? >> i refer you to the report. >> communicating through his personal attorney, mcgahn refused because he said quote, that the times story was accurate in reporting that the president wanted the special counsel removed. isnt that right? >> i believe it is but i refer you again to the report. >> mr. mcgahn through his personal at...

>> time expired. >> let me begin by reading the special counsel regulations by which you were appointed. it reads quote, at the conclusion of the special counsels work he or she shall provide the attorney general with a confidential report explaining the prosecution or decisions reached by the special counsel. is that correct? >> yes. >> now when a regulation uses the words shall provide does it mean the individual is, in fact, obligated what is being -- you dont have any wiggle room, right? >> ...

>> correct. >> and at this time mr. sessions was still recused from oversight of your investigation, correct? >> im sorry, could you restate that that? >> the attorney general was recused. he would have had to violate his own departments rules in order to comply with the presidents order, correct? >> im not going to get into the details. i refer you again to page 91 and 92 of the report. >> if the attorney general had followed through with the presidents request it would have effectively ended y...

Volume two for reasons you explained special counsel did not make a determination whether there was an obstruction of justice crime committed by the president. is that fair? >> yes, sir. >> in explaining what special counsel didnt make a decision, the report on the bottom of page 2 of volume 2 reads as follows. the evidence we obtained about the presidents actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. while this repo...

Mueller just sits silent and allows the attacks from the republicans to sweep over him and says nothing. i think it does raise questions about the degree to which he actually was in charge and in control of this report because he doesnt seem very much in control or charge of what the final report was. i shouldnt say whether he was in charge of the investigation. he doesnt seem in charge of what the report actually says. the two strongest parts i think were the opening questions by the chairman j...

Was ordering him to do? >> i direct you to what we wrote in the report in terms of characterizing his feelings. >> in the report it says mcgahn understood the president to be saying that the special counsel had to be removed. you also say on page 86 that quote, mcgahn considered the presidents request to be an inflection point and he wanted to hit the brakes and he felt trapped and mcgahn decided he had to resign. mcgahn took action to prepare to resign, isnt that correct? >> i direct you again ...

Deny "the new york times" report about the president trying to fire you, correct? >> correct. >> in fact, the presidents counsel was so alarmed by the prospect of the presidents meeting with mcgahn that he called mr. mcgahns counsel and said that mcgahn could not resign no matter what happened in the oval office that day, correct? >> correct. >> so its accurate to say that the president knew that he was asking mcgahn to deny facts that mcgahn, quote, had repeatedly said were accurate, unquote, i...

Republican opponents of the president, then hillary clintons campaign hired. they hired a former british spy. he solicited information from russian officials. that is equal to the russian government and the russian military intelligence interfering in the election in 2016? >> first of aushlll, the steele report. steele turned the report over to the fbi in the summer of 2016. so this document was turned over. but lets say on a going forward basis, if there was a former foreign agent that was hire...

Democratic national committee and to continue what paul manafort was doing with the russians. if you read the steele report and you substituted stormy daniels for the russians and the hackers, its like he was doing the same thing. he was trying to keep all of this away from donald trump. >> cover-up stories, keep them away, not have them come up. independent of the statement that michael cohen made, jessica, that this was done with the intent of influencing the election, would the hush money pay...

Security agency is from these intercepted phone calls. and thats not a great secret, by the way. >> right. i should point out -- >> the russians are very -- >> i should point out what youre saying is well-known to the russians. its obviously in the past there has been lots of reporting about intercepts even in the -- >> yeah. >> -- the indictments against the russians talk about overhearing phone conversations. >> exactly, anderson. there -- you know, the russians are sloppy. what can i say? its...