Republican senators like Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley appearing to give the president permission to get rid of his Attorney General but theres another way to look at it which is that they seem to be trying to say any action off until after the midterm elections and the confirmation of judge kavanaugh to the Supreme Court and the question is are they telling the president he should get rid of Jeff Sessions or hoping they can slow walk this until things calm down but if youre bob mueller you see november as a day on the calendar that to get your job done before just in case. So susan in his punchback Yesterday Yegs Listjeff session the litany of things he had been leading that were on point with what the president wanted, from enforcing immigration laws, focusing on ms13, the gang, promoting economic growth, et
cetera, et cetera. Do the practice not assuage the president at small i know he thinks that hes not going after the president s political opponents but hes executing many of the president s policies. Jeff sessions has been a remarkably effective Attorney General on substantive issues but not on the issue donald trump cares the most about, the russia investigation. Some of the things Jeff Sessions has done are controversial in imposing the trump agenda but that Doesnt Matter because President Trump is focused first and foremost on this information. We shouldnt lose sight of what a remarkable day yesterday was. President trump attacking the Attorney General, the Attorney General having a public bedate with the president of the United States insisting hell shield the Justice Department from political interference. I dont think weve seen that happen before. Minds. Yes the president has the ability to have the people he wants in top positions but 23 it becomes a loyalty test and becomes Political Support of the president or investigations of the other side, the president will either have a hard time finding a new Attorney General or getting the new Attorney General confirmed and you can imagine if that played out now how damaging that could be on the elections and the prospects for judicial confirmation. So listen to this. Last night i had on an attorney and friend of Jeff Sessions for the better part of three deb kads a decades and i asked him about the likelihood Jeff Sessions would walk away. Listen. I believe jeff believes in the Heart And Soul of the department of justice. I know this is probably his dream job because he has an opportunity to impact so many lives and i dont think he would
voluntarily step aside. I dont think that is part of the makeup of Jeff Sessions. Susan, do you agree . Is this someone who will have to be fired . If Jeff Sessions was going to resign because donald trump wanted him to that would have happened already. The president has ridiculed and demeaned him. Jeff sessions has not been the Attorney General many people expected him to be when he was named. Hes turned out to be a much more independent figure. Thank you both, susan page, margaret, preappreciate you bei here. Now to the president s long time friend and the head of the National Enquirer david pecker flipping. Abby phillip is back with more. The two of these men, you cannot overstate how close they were. There was one point president president said the National Enquirer should win the
pulitzer prize but david pecker flipped . Tlart. Its a Big Development but it adds to what we already know about the Michael Cohen case which is that cohen pled guilty to committing crimes during the campaign and he claimed President Trump was aware of it and that he was a collaborator in that effort. Now were learning according to the Wall Street Journal and vanity fair that david pecker has gotten immunity in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors. Cooperation that amounts to his corroboration of Michael Cohens story. Where now this is huge. David pecker is a close friend of the president s. This relationship in which pecker would help him handle his private affairs and kill bad stories has been a feature of their relationship for some time. Now its ruptured. This is in addition to what we
know about this situation according to the Associated Press that the National Enquirer had a physical safe that kept these bad stories and documents related to payments to women who were alleged to have affairs with President Trump in a physical safe so there is potentially a trove of evidence that prosecutors may have access to and now the president has one fewer friend in this fight. It could be why we heard President Trump talking about flippers. He said it should be outlawed, flipping in a case like this, giving prosecutors in exchange for leniency. We could be seeing why the president is so annoyed and angry about that situation. Abby phillip at the white house, thank you. The names is reporting the Manhattan District Attorneys Office may look into possible
criminal charges against the Trump Organization. I know the manhattan d. A. s office hasnt decided yet. What are they looking at . Theyre considering looking at whether the Trump Organization accounted for how they reimbursed Michael Cohen when he paid 130,000 to Stormy Daniels so it would be an investigation into their books and records. But didnt the pay say jog my memory. Remember in the Smoke Statement fr fromhe said it wasnt the Trump Organization that paid me back and didnt the president say it was his money . Or they asked about Karen Mcdougal . The president put in a Financial Disclosure form that he reimbursed Michael Cohen and what we learned from the charging document this is week that Michael Cohen pled guilty to is that the money came from
the Trump Organization. Came from a trust. Its a little murky and the Trump Organization isnt explaining why the money came from the trust. And what could be significant is that if these charges are brought this would be on the state level and the president cannot Pardon Anything on a state level. Right. Thats the thing. Theres no federal pardon. The president could not pardon anyone and the d. A. s office is also investigating Paul Manafort so even if there are rumblings that is the president considering pardoning Paul Manafort, the same d. A. s office has an investigation into him. They are lingering in the backdrop that if Paul Manafort was charged we could see the statement there, too. Kara, thank you for the worthing. Appreciate it. Ahead, what does pecker know . A closer look at the president s longtime friend turned flipper
and why one former employee of the National Enquirer who worked closely with david pecker said he never thought his boss would have flipped on the president. Plus the president better watch about the pardons because with the pardons, that he does that, it looks like it was set up by him. What do voters think about the president s wild week . Youll hear from many of them. And indicted congressman Duncan Hunter seeming to suggest his wife is to blame for a quarter of a million s in misused Campaign Funds. They both pleaded not guilty to those accusations. There are ont to take advantage of great deals like zero percent financing for sixty months on the built ford tough f150. So hurry and save big on ford, americas bestselling brand. Get zero percent financing for sixty months plus twentyeight hundred bonus cash on a 2018 f150 xlt
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david pecker, you were a Media Reporter for 25 years, he and the president were so close. Vanity fair quotes one of the president s saying holy s, i thought pecker would be the last one to turn. And last night i spoke with stu zakim who used to run communications for his company, heres what he told me. You never thought he would turn . Never, but when it comes to david pecker the most important thing to him is business. It supersedes friendship and loyalty. How worried should the president be . We dont know the things he has covered up for the president. He was courted by trump. Trump enjoyed being in tabloids and used them to build his own reputation in new york. We dont know the things he used pecker to bury. We know he has a safe full of
things. Pecker may have vulnerability in this case and he may want to give evidence that will protect him and thats what caused Michael Cohen to turn. The safe thing is like wow. If there is a physical safe out there as the Associated Press is reporting, investigators have to be looking for it right now or have it. Its amazing. In all my years as a federal prosecutor i never had a witness who told me he had a safe full of evidence. Ever. And you helped prosecute john gotti. Thats right. Ive had plenty of best friends. Ive had sons testify against fathers and fathers testify against sons but none brought a safe of evidence so it is amazing and not surprising a friend would turn but its amazing. Can we talk about where the legal line is . I read interesting analysis that the first emt gives The Press Wide Latitude but there may have a legal line stepped over here by ami in terms of whether what it did was a direct campaign contribution. I think the legal line is if this company or mr. Pecker knowingly took steps to make the payment look like it was coming from somebody else or being used for something else, that crosses the line. They can buy the story. What they cant do is make it look like somebody else paid for it or that they arent burying the story. Michael cohen said under oath in court this this arrangement between me and ami was for the principle purpose of influence the election so if authorities believe him and he does have
credibility issues that can be problematic. A former staffer for Peckers Company ami said this to roman farrow. Quote, in theory you would think trump has all the power in this relationship but in fact pecker has the power, he has the power to run these stories, he knows where the bodies are buried. Thats the big risk. Pecker is not the president but does pecker have the upper hand on the president . We dont know what information he has. Enough for the prosecutors to give him immunity. They think what he has is valuable and i think hes already told them. Whatever he has accumulated over the years may not be criminal, this could just be scandalous things. Prosecutors dont care about scandals, they care about the law. So we dont know what he has. But explain to people what queen for a day is. They would know what they could get before they give him a deal. Getting immunity is not easy or done lightly. They would have demand eded a g representation of what his evidence was so they had a good idea of what he had to offer before they took the extraordinary step of offering him immunity. Because he can offer it up to them without facing charges and say heres what i got. Are you going to make me a deal or not . One thing thats important to note is this kind of intimidation to people over stories, its nothing new. Remember joe scarborough, mika brzezinski, they claimed they got a call from the white house where they were threatened to stop saying negative things about the president. They were told they would have to apologize, they would have to say were apologizing or the National Enquirer would run a story that would embarrass
them. Lets listen to that moment. It was striking and maybe emblem matt atic. We got a call that the National Enquirer is going to run a negative story against you guys and and it was donald is friends the president is friends with the guy that runs the National Enquirer and they said if you call the president up and you apologize for your coverage he will pick up the phone and basically spike this story. They didnt do that and the National Enquirer ran the story. And you can see why. They were working hand in glove. Look at the headlines about hillary during the campaign. Thats a good point. They were making staggering unbelievably fictional claim. They said she was six months away from death. Lung cancer, alzheimers
disease, having gays s assignations, said jfkted cruz father was part of the jfk assassination. But that in and of itself is not illegal, is it . Not necessarily though extortion is on the books. Or defamation. Right. I would say, though, that this is a good example of a truism in criminal activity. Criminal activities are twoedged swords. Use to feel the criminal when hes using it to attack someone but if you can get evidence of it as mr. Pecker may be providing, it comes back to harm you so that is why i think mr. Peckers cooperation may come back to harm mr. Trump and reveal additional crimes. Thank you, keep it sunny in chicago, ill be there later today. I dont want any delays into
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