Reporter you were talking about tests up at the top. I can tell you theres one other test right now for the courts, that is to find a fair and impartial jury. 65 Perspective Jurors were ushered into the court on the ninth floor of the courthouse in virginia. The judge first describing the charges against Paul Manafort to them, including bank fraud, conspiracy and failure to report offshore bank accounts. Of course, thats where theyre going to fight this case out over the next two or three weeks. After doing that, he began what is traditional for any judge, and that is to question the jurors about whether they know any of the attorneys in the case, introducing all the attorneys and the defendant Paul Manafort to them. Then essentially trying to get at a question of whether any associations these jurors might have would affect their ability
to reach a fair and impartial verdict in this case. Of course, no one responded affirmatively. They have moved on to private and personal questioning. The main goal, of course, to get a jury and handle this case, this most important case for the special counsel and the russia investigation, Paul Manafort, the former Campaign Chairman. Joe, quick, lay out the reporter he was the campaign manager. You can call him whatever you want at this point. Lay out the stakes for Paul Manafort if convicted. He could spend the rest of his life in prison . Reporter absolutely. Enormous stakes for him, as you said. Cnn counted up all the charges. If he had to serve them end to end, it would be 305 years. Of course, a big question in any of the cases, whether such a sentence would be servedWhats Going On, c cnn legal analyst Jennifer Collins and glen kershner. The performance of rick gates, he committed almost all of the crimes with manafort. He will testify about what they did and what makes manafort guilty on the charges. Im actually keeping my eye out for when a cooperator testifies, the defense can question him about other crimes and other bad acts he has done if it goes to honesty, even if they have nothing to do with the charged crimes. We may actually get a chance to see some of what the mueller team knows and what rick gates can testify about what did he during campaign that may be improper, dishonest, illegal, including potentially Russia Collusion. Rick gates was part of the campaign for much longer than
manafort was, through the election, even up to the inauguration. We may get a glimpse into some of what rick gates has told the mueller team more than what comes out as far as the charges in this trial. Im keeping an eye on that. And glen, this its all just starting today. Could manafort, as it is starting, but is there time for him to cut a deal with bob mueller . How does this work . You know, i think theres still time for him to plead guilty. I was a federal prosecutor for 30 years. I had defendants plead guilty the day of trial, after Opening Statements and midway through the trial when the defendant saw there was a mountain of evidence. Its a different question whether he can still cut a deal with Robert Mueller. I actually think if Robert Mueller really wanted or needed manaforts testimony to continue to build his case, i think we
would have seen a deal cut some time ago. Can he still plead guilty . Yes. Is mueller likely to extend him a plea offer . Almost certainly the answer is no. An interesting take on why manafort might not want to cut a deal. He is afraid of russia. Listen, we have seen what has happened over the uk with some former russian operatives who turned evidence against russia and tried to flee the country. We have seen them poisoned. It was not the first instance. It may very well be that manafort is concerned that if he were to cooperate, perhaps he would anger russia and perhaps they would try to reach out and touch, so to speak, him or some of his family members. Witness fear and intimidation is a powerful motivator. In my experience, its one of the things that will keep a
potential cooperating witness from coming on board and turning states evidence. Thats interesting. Chris christie today said that the case is remarkably important for the credibility of bob mueller. Do you see this as a big test for bob mueller . I think it is a test for bob mueller. You know, you have to remember, there are 12 jurors here, regular, everyday people. It only takes one of them to hang this case. You never know what happens in a trial and in the jury room. I wouldnt say its a terrible thing for mueller if he doesnt get his conviction here. They can always try it again if its a hung jury. Its a big test for mueller. But you do have to remember, theres a crap shoot with who the jury is. We have to suspend judgement and see how it goes. All of this is happening in the public eye. Ifoverwhelming, thats going to show the mueller team has done a good job and they brought a powerful case. Its not 100 about what happens when the verdict comes back. I mean, i asked this of chris on the political front. From the legal side, this trial isnt about any Russia Collusion on its face. Right . Rudy giuliani very clearly wanted to make the case yesterday that he does not think Paul Manafort has anything on President Trump. What does this mean though for President Trump . I agree with you that on four corners of this case, the evidence that we expect to see, it doesnt really implicate russian collusion. I really think we need to keep in mind that when we investigate these largescale races, racketeer and Corruption Organization cases, its usual for prosecutors to return a series of indictments. I have to tell you, i know we have seen two indictments of Paul Manafort, one in virginia, one in d. C. Paul manafort may be the rare
defendant who will find himself on the end of a hat trick of indictments. I dont believe they are done with Paul Manafort. That means stand by to stand by, i guess. Great to see you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Keep an eye on Whats Going On when they come out. Coming up, President Trump says north korea is no longer a nuclear threat. Why then is kim jongun reportedly working on new missiles . Step forward, step back, step to the side. Where are we now . Details ahead. The white house is looking at a new tax cut for, well, some of the countrys wealthiest americans. They dont think they need congress to do this. Arent they called the legislative branch for a reason . Stay with us. Let your perfect drive come together at the Lincoln Summer Invitation sales event. Get 0 apr on select 2018 lincoln models plus 1,000 bonus cash. 23 a month. Selectquote found anna, 37, a 750,000 policy for under 22 a month. Selectquotes secret . They comparison shop select group of Great Companies like these for your best rate. Give your family the security they need. At a price you can afford. Since 1985, selectquote has saved over a million families millions of dollars on life insurance. Call the number on your screen. Or go to selectquote. Com. Discover what over a million families know. We shop. You save. Discussions are ongoing and theyre going very, very well. We have no rush for speed. We have no time limit. We have no speed limit. Were just going through the process. But the relationships are very good. That was President Trump just two weeks ago saying theres no rush when it comes to getting north korea to denuclearize. Today the Washington Post reports theres signs that north korea may be doing opposite. New Satellite Images and other indicators show that they could be working on building new liquidfuelled missiles, this happening Outside Pyongyang at this facility which produced the first Ballistic Missiles capable of reaching the united states. What now . Joining me is bruce clinger, former cia deputy commissioner. Great to see you. If confirmed, what does this reporting tell you about their Weapons Program now . It shows that all of the programs are continuing and perhaps even expanding. The last several weeks, we have had Intelligence Leaks or nongovernment Satellite Imagery Analysis indicating that the expansion of the programs. Theres no reduction in the arsenal. Theres no reduction in the production capabilities. Is that flatly a breach in violation of the Handshake Agreement between trump and kim jongun from singapore . It may not, per se, be a violation of the singapore communiq communique, because there was no deal reached. It goes against the spirit of the singapore summit. It doesnt seem consistent with a government thats about to abandon all of these programs. Most importantly, its a continuing violation of numerous u. N. Resolutions, which not only preclude Nuclear Missile tests, but require north korea to abandon its nuclear and missile programs. How does the u. S. Get a good assessment . Thats always a continued question, a tipped problem. With no inspectors on the ground, can the u. S. Verify, can the u. S. Really trust what north korea is saying . If we have an agreement, we have to have verification. The same kind of provisions we had for verification of the Inf Treaty And Fce treaty with the soviet union and warsaw pact. If we dont have verification, then we dont have an agreement. Right now, its perhaps not a violation of the singapore summit. But we cant verify anything. What north korea needs to do to convince us that it is willing to denuclearize is provide a full and complete data declaration identifying all of its facilities, the size of its nuclear and missile arsenal. Then we would have to move on to inspections of declared facilities. Then eventually challenge inspections of nondeclared facilities. Bruce, President Trump last week, he was still really remained optimistic about it all saying that discussions are going very, very well in his words and also when he said, theres no rush for speed, theres no speed limit, theres no time limit. At what point do you think the Administration Needs to set some ben benchmarks, set time lines . Right. Secretary of state pompeo is in pyongyang a few weeks ago. Afterwards said that they made progre progress. North korea very quickly and
very imfemphatically denied progress and criticized pompeo denies they would do things the u. S. Wants them to do. The administration has abandoned its maximum pressure policy in favor of what pompeo called patient diplomacy. The president has said there are 300 north korean entities that were not sanctioning. Thats equal to the same number that the obama and Trump Administrations have cumulative cumulatively sanctioned in 5 1 2 years. It has adopted the Obama Administration policy of strategic patient. Two steps forward, i dont know how many steps back. Its hard to know. Great to see you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Coming up, another tax cut. This time, who Needs Congress to do it . Can they really do that . The Trump Administration seems to think so. Details on that next. Big dreams. And big plans. So how do i make the efforts of 8 employees. Feel like 50 . How can i share new plans virtually . How can i download an efile . Virtual tours . Zipfile . Really big files . In seconds, not minutes. Just like that. Like everything. The answer is simple. Ill do what ive always done. Dream more, dream faster, and above all. Now, ill dream gig. Now more businesses, in more places, can afford to dream gig. Comcast, building americas largest gigspeed network. Tax cuts, republicans in congress have long pushed for them and passed a big Tax Reform Package earlier this year. What was all that fighting over . The white house is considering another tax cut while cutting out the middleman. We mean the lenggislative branc. It would impact wealthy americans. Allison kos ticostik is joining now. At the heart of this are Capital Gains taxes. Those are the taxes you pay when you cash out of an investment. You pay a Capital Gains tax. If this plan actually happens, it means that the super wealthy would pay less in taxes. If this plan goes through, according to the New York Times, the Trump Administration is looking to change the way Capital Gains taxes are calculated. Their idea is to index Capital Gains taxes to inflation. The best way to illustrate this is with an illustration. This is a good one from the New York Times showing if a high earner spent 100,000 on stock in 1980 and you sold it for a Million Dollars today, that person would owe Capital Gains taxes on 900,000. If the original purchase was indexed to inflation, the original investment would be 300,000. That would reduce the gain to 700,000. Essentially saving Investor Tens Of Thousands of dollars in taxes. Who does this benefit . It benefits the super rich. One study found 97 of the benefits of this plan would go to the top 10 of americans. Twothirds of the benefits would go to the top onetenth of americans. Can the administration do this . Thats up to question. What the Trump Administration is looking to do is bypass congress all together and use regulatory powers. We know that george w. Bush, when he was in office, had looked into this. It was discovered that there wasnt any legal standing for it. If the Trump Administration does try to get this through, you can bet there will be a lot of legal challenges. Lets just stand by and see. Everyone loves a legal challenge. With me now, molly ball and phil mattingly. Who knew it was so easy to get tax cuts through . Forget the benefits or nonbenefits of a cap gains tax cut. Going around congress, it was so easy. What was all the fighting about . How is this going to go over on the hill . If you can skip the filibuster, skip the filibuster. This has been pushed by conservatives for a long period of time. One of the primary backers is one larry kudlow who owns a prominent place in the white house economic team. I think when you listen to what Steve Mnuchin said about this in the past, theres a recognition this might be dicey on the regulatory side. Theres a reason its not been done. If you go back to the bush administration, they did a legal analysis of this. Decided they couldnt do it. The justice department, the Legal Counsel put out a Policy Notice saying they didnt think they could do it. Theres been shifts in laws s st might open the door. Are they willing to push this . One thing i heard from my tax friends on the right is, even if this is challenged on the legal side, even if its defeated on the legal side, just the shortterm burst of the asset sales might have a boost in the economy that would be effective on growth and might for a short time might be worth it. That might be the whole ball game. I guess the bottom line is congress isnt going do it. Theyre not doing more tax reform. You figure out ways you can do this. This is an idea. Will they pursue it . We will see. Molly, is this just a Trial Balloon . It could be. They obviously are saying they are considering this, not that they are necessarily going to do it. As phil said, might wind up in
court if they were to do so. On the political end of things, i read this as the administration trying to send a positive message to the Business Community and to conservatives to fiscal conservatives. Both of those groups have beenu and are looking something from the administration to mollify them, to placate them. So this would be something that would sort of say to them, we havent forgotten about you. Some free traders are worried these tariffs actually could have a very negative economic affect in the near term. The administration looking to tell them that it is still on their side. The flip side is that democrats think this goes perfectly with their message that the Tax Reform Bill of last year was a giveaway to the rich. One reason previous administrations didnt do this was because of the legal authority. Another reason is that when you give a big tax cut, you take
away a bunch of government revenue. That increases the deficit. We have seen this administration, this congress not being particularly concerned about the deficit and debt. That would its hard to find a deficit hawk on capitol hill anymore. Lets just be honest. Lets talk about there are two strategies when it comes to a possible Government Shutdown yesterday. The president said, if i dont get border security, i dont get the wall, i would have no problem doing a shutdown. Republican leaders seem to be trucking along with their fingers in their ears. They dont seem to be going along with it at all. Theres the actual strategy, the one that republicans and democrat