Justice sotomayor said, look, even though the commission may have made commissioners may have made disparaging comments about religion, this was assessed by other entities, by courts, and there was no need to say that the context here affected t case. That these two individuals did face discrimination and it should be read as that. So they were the only two that broke off, but as i say, Justice Kennedy, i think he wanted to caution everyone in the courtroom, and probably anyone reading this opinion, that this is a very small step in the case of these particular men. Again, Justice Ginsburg and sotomayor said otherwise, but i think it really opens the door to what would come next from the next case. I would just add one other thing, Justice Kennedy noted that in 2012, when this had happened, colorado was not
is interesting, how this is going to play out over the next six months or so. And i said, well, explain. He said, well, is going to bed by republicans as an effort for freedom, for ligi going to help us with our base. But in the near term, he thinks that it is actually going to hurt republicans a little bit because it is going to be framed as discrimination or this is what he thinks by the media, that in fact that theyre allowing discrimination to move forward. Now, whether or not this plays out in the midterm elections well have to see what happens, but whenever y talk about religious freedom, these are the kind of hot button issues that do get people out to vote. So i would expect conservatives and republicans to really play this out. You know, john, kennedy was the deciding voice in the 2015 gay marriage decision, writing the Majority Opinion here. In your view, is this decision by the justices complicatin things or clarifying things with regard to gay rights in america
hearing. Thats what it is about, giving both sides a fair hearing, but i dont think he undercut his decision in obergefell from 2015 at all. And i think, ts why he was able to draw in the votes of people on the far right, and people on the far not the most extreme left, but enough on the left to make it seem better than the usual 54 decision, which is what it was in 2015. Yeah. This is far from over. This case, though, decided. Guys, thank you very much, i was just handed a first statement coming from the attorneys who were representing the baker representing Masterpiece Bakers in this, Jack Phillips. Jack serves all customers. He simply declines to express messages or celebrate events this violate his deeply held beliefs, Creative Professionals who serve all people should be free to create art consistent with their convicts without the threat of government punishment. That from the attorneys representing Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Bakers who just won before the supreme court. Thank you all so much. Coming up for us, President Trump says he has the absolute right to pardon himself as his lawyer Rudy Giuliani says trump could shoot james comey and get away with it. Whats going on here, honestly. Thats coming up. Plus, bill clinton gets heated over questions about Monica Lewinskying he doesnt owe her a personal apology. Does he see that scandal in his political past any differently in the age of the Me Too Movement . Well play it for you. You can be the judge. Sleep disturbances keep one in three adults up at night. Only remfresh uses ionpowered melatonin to deliver up to seven hours of sleep support. Number one sleep doctor recommended remfresh. Your nightly sleep companion. Available in the Natural Sleep section at walmart. Parts a and b and want more coverage, guess what . You could apply for a Medicare SupplementInsurance Plan whenever you want. No enrollment window. No waiting to apply. That means now may be a great time to shop for an aarp Medicare SupplementInsurance Plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Medicare doesnt cover everything. And like all standardized Medicare SupplementInsurance Plans, these help cover some of what medicare doesnt pay. So dont wait. Call now to request your free Decision Guide. It could help you find the aarp Medicare Supplement plan that works for you. These types of plans have no networks, so you get to choose any doctor who accepts medicare patients. Rates are competitive, and theyre the only plans of their kind endorsed by aarp. Remember these plans let you apply all year round. So call today. Because nows the perfect time to learn more. Go long. Have done nothing wrong . Followed by this, the appointment of the Special Counsel, his spelling not mine,. Despite that, we play the game because i unlike the democrats have done nothing wrong. So where would President Trump get such y pardon idea . Hello, Rudy Giuliani, once again. He has no intention of pardoning himself, but he probably doesnt say he cant. Thats another interesting constitutional argument, can the president pardon himself. It would be an open question. And Rudy Giuliani is on a role, again. He went on to make another shocking claim to the Huffington Post saying the president could have shot former fbi director james comey and not be prosecuted. Here is the quote. If he shot james comey, he would be impeached. The next day. Impeach him and then you can do whatever you want to do to him. It is a theoretical argument and clearly an extreme example, of course, but what are they trying
to do here . Joining me right now, senior White House Correspondent at the Huffington Post who conducted this interview with Rudy Giuliani. What did you think when r uni told you that . I was very interested in how far they would take the argument they can do basically that they want. They seemed a very regal expansive view of the presidency. When it came out that he could end any investigation, i was curious what else could they what other kind of investigations could he stop . I said, well, what if hypothetically he you got angry at james comey and shot him instead of firing him. Mr. Giuliani said, yeah, includes that, no crimes. They would have to impeach him first. And confident that that would happen very quickly. Im struck also by how often and openly Rudy Giuliani seems to be talking about impeachment here when it seems the furthest thing from what the president would like. That also is starting to tell me
it is looking Something Like a strategy. What does it tell you . Strategy, im not so sure about that. You know, the mayor likes to talk to a lot of folks about lots of different things. And we asked him questions you get an answer at least. I was expecting to say, well, no, thats an outrageous thing and just a crazy hypothetical and im not even going to answer that. He was he went there. He said, yeah, any crime means any crime. And with the president , hes immune from that while hes in office. So it is not surprising then that the presi had that tweet this morning about he can pardon himself because it is obvious hes thinking more and more about that. But we also heard two, maybe more than two, two things about Rudy Giuliani, it is he speaks for the president and also that the president himself is suggesting he does not speak for the president because he doesnt get his facts straight. Do you at this point get a sense now that Rudy Giuliani speaks for the president . Well, i dont know. Depends on the time of day, i guess, what day honestly. You get all kinds of answers when you ask things of the white house, right . I mean, we had that statement multiple statements from the white house about that statement aboard air force one, that he dictated, did he not dictate and that that letter they sent to the Special Counsels office in january, turns out,yeah, he did dictate it. So, i think were getting about as much accuracy and consistency with Rudy Giuliani as from the president or from the white house generally. Not a high bar at this point. S. V. , thank you for coming in, appreciate it. My pleasure. So, as s. V. Was talking about, Rudy Giuliani comments came after the New York Times had a confidential letter that jay sekulow and john dowd at the time sent to Robert Mueller in january and claimed the president Cannot Obstruct justice because the constitution gives him the authority to, quote, terminate the inquiry. In that same letter, a buried
bombshell, the president s attorneys admitting the president , quote, dictated, thats a key word, that first m misleading statement from donald trump jr. About the purpose of his meeting with the russian government lawyer at trump tower during the 2016 campaign. Here is a quote for you, you have received all of the notes, communications and testimony indicating that the president dictated a short, dictated a short but accurate response to the New York Times article on behalf of his son donald trump jr. His son then followed up by making a full Public Disclosure regarding the meeting including his public ttimony that there was nothing to the meeting and certainly no evidence of collusion. Nothing to meeting, we can debate for days that we have discussed that quite a bit when we said he would love to get dirt on hillary clinton. Regardless, the president s involvement in that misleading statement was something sekulow and the white house denied and denied and denied and denied when the news of the meeting first came out. That was written by donald trump jr. And im sure with consultation with his lawyer. That wasnt written by the president. The president didnt sign off on anything. The president was not involved in the drafting of the statement and did not issue the statement. It came from donald trump jr. He certainly didnt dictate, but, you know, he, like i said, he weighed in,ggestions like an woulddo. Lets get to it. With me now, kim waily, former assistant u. S. Attorney who worked in the Clinton Whitewater investigation, joe lockhart, cnn political commentator, and joining us, former republican congressman charlie dent. Lets do this. Congressmen, someone is lying, either the president or his attorneys. Do you care to take a bet . Well, i dont know what the president shared. I have n idea what the president shared with his attorneys. Could be the attorneys were stating what they thought was the truth as they knew it. But clearly someone is not telling the truth here, either the president or the people who spoke on his behalf or both. It is pretty inexcusable, really
indefensible. Joe, look, lying to the media, lying to the american public, is not a crime. But this is so blatant on the dictate the statement, dictate the statement. He did not dictate the statement, absolutely he did dictate the statement. I dont think you can find another example, but this is todays outrage du jour. If you were in your old job, what would you do with this today . If i was in my old job, i probably would have left several months ago. I would be here talking to you about how the president Doesnt Have A the difference is the timing here. When he told jay sekulow and Sarah Sanders before january i didnt do it, he knew mueller hadnt spoken to the people in the room. Now they have written this letter because he knows the people have gone in and underwrote, told mueller what really happened. So i think it is another example about trumps lack of any sort of concept of how important the
truth is, and the fact that hell put anybody out to say anything to protect him and everybody is just sort of cattle to him. All about protecting him. And, kim, why would they ever admit this to the Special Counsel . Is it they had to . What do you think . No, i mean, that entire letter is unnecessary. There are two issues here, one is people are talking about whether it is truthful or not. Of course, lying to the press is not illegal, it gets to why the president s lawyers dont want him to sit down and testify under oath, because hes extremely vulnerable to criminal liability for perjury. The Second Question has to do with Obstruction Of Justice and the letter goes into that in great detail, did the president make decisions with the corrupt intent to flout the criminal Justice System to the extent to which it is engaged in a legitimate probe of russian interference with our election. And that really gets to State Of Mind and the evidence including this little fact is mounting that the president certainly had that intent. Now, then we get into bigger
constitutional questions as to whether he can be indicted, if hes indicted, prosecuted and convicted by a jury, then could he be pardoned . I think the president is making a case, a very complicated, i think obfuscating one for the american public, that he can pretty much do what he wants and i think it is actually a good thing that thats now being put out in the open because it is so outrageous as a matter of democratic theory, we all need to Pay Attention to it. Congressman, i dont want to go down the rabbit hole of can he or cant he pardon himself or is this Special Counsel constitutional or unconstitutional because i think the question is really why is the president doing this . Well, call me oldfashioned, but i do not believe that the president ial authority is absolute. And i think we talk about pardons, you know, this process should be done in a thoughtful, considered manner. I have been involved with some individuals who wanted pardons, and there is a process that should be observed that the Justice Department conducts, and i dont think these pardons should be handed out on a
president ial whim or to send a message or to retaliate against a certain prosecutor. Im deeply troubled by this. And im very concerned that the congress has given up a lot of its Article One Authority over the years, didnt start with this president , this has been going on for a long time. We have seen executive actions under president obama and others and Congress Needs to step in and assert itself. The founders established congress the first branch of government, article one, and so i think this notion of absolute president ial power is absurd. Guys, stick around. If you can believe it, i wont let you leave, a whole lot more to discuss and doesnt have to do with President Trump at this moment. Coming up, bill clinton gets testy when faced with questions about the Me Too Movement and Monica Lewinsky, saying he doesnt own lewinsky a personal apology. Thats next. Hey we didnt have a homeowners claim last year so allstate is giving us money back on our bill. Well, that seems fair. We didnt use it. Wish we got money back on gym memberships. Get money back hilarious. With claimfree rewards. Switching to allstate is worth it. The line between work and life hasnt just blurred. Its gone. Thats why you need someone behind you. Not just a card. An entsupport system. Whether visiting the Airport Lounge to catch up on whats really important. Or even using those hardearned points to squeeze in a Little Family time. No one has your back like american express. So no matter where youre going. Were right there with you. The powerful backing of american express. Dont do business without it. Dont live life without it. Himself from renewed criticism of the Monica Lewinsky scandal in the era of the Me Too Movement. Asked a question about how he feels about if he feels differently about that snd day ithe light of the Me Too Movement by nbc, heres his response. No, i felt terrible then. And i came to grips with it. Did you ever apologize . Yes,nd nobody believes that i got out of that for free. I left the white house 16 million in debt. But you typically have ignored gaping facts and describs and i bet you dont even know them. This was litigated 20 years ago, twothirds of the American People sided with me, they were not insensitive to that. I had a Sexual Harassment policy when i was governor in the 80s. I had two women chief of staff
when i was governor. Women were overrepresented in the Attorney Generals Office in the 70s. For their percentage in the bar. I had nothing but Women Leaders iny office since i left. You are giving one side and omitting facts. But you didnt apologi her. I have not talked to her. Do you feel you owe her an apology . I do not i never talke