Whether hes factually right or wrong, is there any reaction from the white house about what ana, not yet. Frankly i would be surprised if there was any response other than referring to us to outside counsel which in this case is Rudy Giuliani. Perhaps not the most tactful way to describe his position to draw this image of the president shooting the former fbi director in the oval office, but essentially what hes arguing is what weve heard the president s legal team argue over and over again, that the president cannot be indicted by virtue of his position. Further, giuliani tried to clarify today some of the key points in that letter that we sent by the White House Legal Team to the special counsel in january. That letter, of course, published yesterday in the New York Times, and in that letter the Trump Legal Team tried to argue that the president because hes the top Law Enforcement officer in the country could end any investigation, if he show chooses, thereby making it impossible for him to obstruct justice. One of the things that we know that the special counsel is investigating. Further, giuliani tried to make the case that in theory the president could pardon himself, that is, to essentially if there were any charges brought against him or any potential indictment in the future that the president could essentially wipe that away. Giuliani on both counts made the case that it is highly unlikely that the president would do that. Hes arguing that it is not something that they are interested in pursuing, but speaking in theory it is something that the president could do. He says he wont do that because they dont have to. He does not believe that the president is in any sort of legal trouble. In fact, he went as far as to say that he believes that the political uproar that that would cause would lead to more danger for the president and the threat of impeachment. Ana . Boris sanchez at the white house, lots to talk about, potential impeachment. Lets get to our panel, joining suswhite house reporter and cnn analyst and New York TimesPolitical EditorPatrick Healy and Senior Writer and editor harry enton. This claim from giuliani that the president could shoot james comb and not be indicted is similae have heard from prest trump himself as a candidate. Lets listen. I could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldnt lose any voters, okay . Reporter who do you think giuliani is really making thisa . I think what this is all about, ana, is a series of arguments that the president s legal team is making because they cannot afford for the president to go befor special counsel rert mueller and give an interview because there are clearly going to be doubts about whether hell be truthful during that testimony and that would lead him into all sorts of political problems, legal problems and the idea that he could obstruct justice. The question of whether a prident could be indicted, a sitting president has never really been answered completely just because its never really come up, so its its the litigation hasnt taken place, but most people believe that a sitting president probably cant be indicted by the remedy, for instance, if the president were to commit a murder would be impeachment and thats the political remedy that sort of covers what, you know, wrongdoing by a president. This all fits into the broader trend, the idea that the president cannot obstruct justice or can be indicted. When the president and his lawyers are arguing is a broad and sweeping interpretation of president ial power which seems to come up, you know, right against the idea that the constitution and norms have limited the scope of the presidency for the last more than two centuries. So at the same time they are saying no indictment giuliani and others are arguing that the president would be impeached for hypothetically murdering james comey or pardoning himself. Listen. The president of the United States pardoning himself would just be unthinkable, and would be it would lead to probably an immediate impeachment. Theres no way that will happen, and the reason it wont it then becomes a political problem, george. If the president were to pardon himself he would get impeached. If the president decided he were going to pardon himself, thats almost selfexecuting impeachment. Reporte so, hair, i guess, the other question why even put this out there that he cant be indicted. Why even argue that to mueller if they are so certain he could be impeached . You asked the question earlier, who was Rudy Giuliani talking to when he gave that interview, and i believe he was almost talking to the president. United states himself who sees himself above the fray oftentimes, right, so i think Rudy Giuliani had an audience of one in that because i dont think anyone really thinks that the president is going to pardon himself. Rudy giuliani said himself thats not going to happen. I dont think anybody is thinking hell go out and shoot. Rudy giuliani is acting on behalf of the president and wants to make sure he keeps his job but attorneys for the president often go adios, amigos. Bill clinton was impeached for obstruction of justice and what were finding ourself in right now with this russia investigation, listen to what he said today. I think if the roles were reversed, now this is me just talking and based on my talking, if there were a democratic president and the facts were present, most people in washington believe impeachment hearings would have begun already. If there were a democrat in power . Patrick, do you think thats the case . I think thats a bit of a stretch because i think that both sides want an investigation to play out just like in the 90s, there was a desire for ken starr toe do the work that he needed to do, even though it was dragging on for years. The impeachment proceedings didnt really begin until that was decided. I think impeachment is an interesting focus here and its because of the midterm elections that are underway right now. What Rudy Giuliani and President Trump and others are trying to do is they are trying to come up with a strategy to get the republicans determined to reelect a Republican Congress and they are using this sort of scare tactic about impeachment to really energize the base. They are saying indictments are off the table. Well, he could pardon himself but he probably wont. Its really going to be about impeachment so youve got to reelect a Republican Congress in order to protect, you know, the president who you put in office. The problem here is that what they are describing and some of the language that they are using, the support above an investigation. He can fire anyone. He can shoot, you know, the fbi director. Sounds like we have a king in the office. Sounds like a dictatorship, ana. Sounds more like a dictatorship what they are describing. Why investigate if he can pardon himself. Sounds more like a dictatorship than a country governed by the rule of law. Patrick brought up republicans and their perhaps political maneuvering, and its interesting when you take a look at the lives current republicans who voted for impeachment of bill clinton and yet, here they are right there. A lot of them. And yet, harry, they are silent right now most of them as the president continues his attacks on the justice department. Yeah. They are silent. Now, lets see what happens if he were actually to make a movement, you know, if he were to try say and get rid of the special counsel or say he actually tried to pardon himself. Right now theres a lot of talk from the president. Republicans have done a very good job of trying to ignore the noise per se, but if theres actual action that occurs, thats when i think im going to be more interested in what republicans do. I should point out when they fired james comey back last year, you saw the president s approval rate take a dip. That one of the few times in his administration where you actually sawt in his Approval Ratings so if the president took action i think republicans would run for cover and thats when youd probably see them begin to abandon the president. Could i just add to that point. This is such those faces that you showed on the screen gets entirely to how much President Trump has taken over the republican party, how much they are so dependant on this president. As much as the media and say, oh, my god, his Approval Rating is no good and he says these things on twit their are outrageous, the reality is that they are so loyal to him at this point, and the reality and they know that the base is so much with the president and not necessarily with them. 85 of republicans approve of the president of the United States. Thats the second highest approval among his observe party of any republican president since polling began. Very afraid of their own voters even if the center of the electorate isnt necessary lit biggest fan of the president. The other thing we noticed in the recent spolg more and more republicans are siding with the president on his version of mueller, and he continuing to call it a witchhunt, and theres been radio silence from the special counsels office. Nobody is fighting back. Its just the president and his team who have that loud microphone right now. We even find out that mueller hasnt responded, according to giuliani, to the letter that they sent to him in january. Should mueller or somebody from the special counsel team be defending their integrity and this investigation . Well, this silence of Robert Mueller is completely consistent with everything we know from the way hes conducted himself during his long career in Law Enforcement, and i dont think you would expect anything else. The danger for him to engage here is that he gets would be that he gets pulled down into this political vortex and most people that engage wit donald trump from positions of Authority End up having their images tarnished. Having said that, as you say, it does open this opportunity for the president and his allies to basically take shots at mueller knowing that theres going to be no consequences for that, and i think what weve seen by the president is the campaign orchestrated with certain conservative media figures is really being quite successful in roughing up mueller. Now, the question is what happens when the special counsel makes his report. Does he have information about the president and his campaign and his associates that is so damning that it changes the political atmosphere around this, or has the president been so successful that whatever mueller eventually reports doesnt make any impression on republicans and conservative voters, and that lessens the pressure then on republican lawmakers to act against the president in any kind of impeachment process or anything else, so its going to take a while to see how the politics play out. A lot, i think, does depend on weak actly Robert Mueller has, and as has opinion shown, when weve had these indictments that have taken place periodically, he has a he nose a lot of things that we dont know that he knows and thats the central question. Patrick, real quickly. I want to get your take on this argument. We heard from giuliani saying that the president shouldnt sit down with mueller because his recollection keeps changing. Right. I remember interviewing donald trump as a candidate, and a couple of times he talked about how 9 11, the attacks on the World Trade Center happened during dinner. He he we know this. He has these moments of what he says, whether they are exaggerations or falsehoods or lies or just memory issues, or the way he talks faster than his brain moves sometimes. I mean, the reality is thats one thing in politics. Thats another thing when youre speaking either under oath or to a grand jury or to investigators for the special counsel, and Rudy Giuliani, they have reason to be worried. President trump likes to you know. He got elected in part because some voters thought he shot his mouths off in ways that sounded like a real person, but that can be very dangerous with stakes this high. Gentlemen, thank you all. Coming up, the tale of two dictators. A new report that kim jongun plans to meet with syrian president Bashar Al Assad as negotiations continue for a historic summit with President Trump. So whats going on here . Plus, on the hunt for a killer. Police link a string of murders in arizona, and among victims a psychiatrist famous for his work in the Jonbenet Ramsey case, an dance floor shocker. An offduty fbi agent accidentally fires a gun and shoots someone while doing a backflip in a negotiate club. Hiu that chevy won a j. D. Power dependability award for its midsize carthe chevy malibu. I forgot. Chevy also won a j. D. Power dependability award for its lightduty truck the chevy silverado. Oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j. D. Power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvsthree years in a row. Phew. Third times the charm. Do you really think i woke up like this . New lumi glotion loreals first glowenhancing lotion for natural illumination say Bonjour Bonjour to an effortless glow new lumi glotion. From loreal paris. As if i woke up like this. Delivcrisp leaves of lettuce,s. Freshlymade dressing. 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Most pills only block one. Flonase. Nuuks leader has another the countrys News Agency Says hell soon well come syrian president br al assad for a state visit. No date has been set but it will mark the first time kim has ever hosted a head of state. As for his upcoming summit in singapore with President Trump, the u. S. Says they will not be paying the north korean delegation bill. That suggests that the white house was open to that idea. In terms. Framework for this upcoming meeting nine days from now, the u. S. Defense secretary may have just outlined one important parameter. North korea will receive relief only when it demonstrates verifiable and irreversible steps to denuclearization. That brings us to our weekly president ial brief, a segment we bring you every sunday night highlighting some of the most pressing National Security information the president will need when he wakes up tomorrow. Joining us now cnn National Security analyst and former National SecurityCouncil Adviser sam vinograd who spent two years in the Obama Administration helping to prep for the president s daily brief. The president isnt just preparing for this one upcoming summit, historic however it may be. Its a season for them. It is summit season, and theres eight days to go until the president is the supposed to travel to singapore. Hes laser focused on keeping the summit on track while his team works on the logistical details and the substantive ones like what north korea has to give to get relief from us. Kim johnun threw what should have been a wrench into the process earlier. North korea announced Bashar Al Assad is going to travel to pyongyang. Imagine the North Koreans went ballistics when pence and bolton talked about the libya model. Here kim is inviting a war criminal to north korea and probably expecting donald trump to keep quiet because the president so badly wants the summit to go ahead. I think that that puts kim in the drivers seat ahead of singapore. Now before singapore we also have another battle perhaps for the president. Unfortunately. The g7 summit in canada. Yes. And this is going to be a battle with our friends. The other g7 countries, the g 6, if you will, are preparing for battles on multiple fronts. U. S. Tariff policy, u. S. Iran policy and Climate Change policy, and canada had prepared a real substantive agenda centered around