A recap of the days news. Alive that hes willing to speak to the special counsel. You know, i really dont believe it. I dont think he want to sit down with the special counsel. I think his lawyers have impressed upon him the risks of doing that. I think they want to keep it out there in the public eye, were not afraid, we have nothing to hide, were willing to sit down. And them going on about this back and forth and this negotiation allows them to continue to claim thats true. So, michael, sources are telling our Gloria Borger that muellers team is willing to reduce the number of questions theyd ask about potential obstruction by nearly half . Is that what do you think of that, is that smart . I think glenn makes a good point and a good lawyer when you go in and youre talking to somebody of interest to you in an investigation, you know the answers. Youre basically pushing them to see what response you get. Whether you ask him ten questions about it or five questions about it, they already got witnesses on record, they already got testimony on record for other people. Theyre just going to see if he tells when he says of his side of the story. Yeah. I think the narrative is, he wants to act like he wants to
come talk. Hes been saying that so he gins up his base. You think its public relations. I think its all pr. He cannot tell the truth in a twoword tweet. The New York Times is also reporting the president s lawyers have told him he has no personal legal exposure and the only threat to him would be Impeachment Proceedings if the democrats win control of the house in november. Hes probably more worried about impeachment, i dont know, than the law . Yeah, i mean, he may be thinking about impeachment. I mean, the question is whether or not you can indict a sitting president. Theres a lot of legal debate on that. But, i mean, any time a lawyer tells you youve got no legal jeopardy, especially in a case like this, i might look for another lawyer at least for second opinion. Glenn, lets talk about the trial of trumps excampaign chairman paul manafort. A parade of witnesses today. Including Home Improvements costing 1. 13 million in 2013. Mens clothing costing over
hes got seven homes, hes got waterfall ponds, hes got putting greens installed in his homes, hes got ostrich jackets, for goodness sake. Definitely can help win the hearts and minds of the jurors, when theyre presented with a case, opulence meets arrogance, they tend to sit up and take note. I can tell you a very quick story, don, where i had a case like this where we executed a Search Warrant out on one of our coconspirators homes in a recode case. As the fbi agents were taking those suits as evidence, they opened up the jackets, and in each Breast Pocket of each suit, 10,000 grand cash here, 10,000 grand cash here. And no matter what suit that Conspirator Put on for the night, he was ready for a 20,000 night on the town. That kind of evidence really grabs a jury. Wow. Interesting. I wish i had magic suits like that in my closet where the money just magically appears im saying. Jennifer, judge ellis blocked prosecutors from showing the jury pictures that document manaforts opulent lifestyle saying they were not relevant. The photos were later entered into the jury to show, and released to the public. What is the evidence, other than someone is questionable about their Fashion Sense or that they spend their money frivolously. Yeah, i think judge ellis is trying to do two things, one just to move the trial along. Hes very interested in getting this finished as quickly as possible, so the more things you show to the jury, the longer it takes. I think also, hes trying to avoid prejudicing the defendant. You know, if theres a conviction here, there will be an appeal. And the judge will have wanted to be careful about overdoing, about allowing the prosecutors to gild the lily by not only putting all of this into evidence, but showing the jury every single picture and really
emphasizing the way he spent his money was frivolous and showed freed. I think the judge is being careful. Greed. You said a good word. Trying to show greed. Ding, ding, ding, ding. I just got it. Thank you. Thank you. Great answer there, jennifer. Thank you, everyone. I appreciate it. When we come back, President Trumps strategy is to discredit anyone and anything associated with the Mueller Investigation, but is that a strategy thats damaging to the country . This is not a bed. The order data, the weights of , everything is seamlessly put into shipstation, so when we print the shipping ll everythings pretty much done. Its so much easier so now, were ready, bring on t. Shipstation. The number one ch of online sellers. Go to shipstation. Com tv and get two months free. President trump increasingly under pressure over the Mueller Investigation with the midterms looming, and Rudy Giuliani, the president s defender in chief, says this. I say this in my role, not as a lawyer, but as a concerned citizen and republican, but this election is going to be about impeachment or no impeachment. Cnns senior legal analyst is david gergen, hes here. Also cnn political commentators oh, political analyst. Joan walsh and Alice Stewart are here as well. Thank you so much for joining us, everyone. Hi, don. David, i want to start with you. Rudy giuliani says the Upcoming Elections are going to be on impeachment or not impeachment. Do you agree with that . I think theyre fundamentally going to be a referendum on donald trump as president more than impeachment, per se. For example, i can imagine a great number of people voting, especially democrats, voting for to take the house back, but saying, lets go slow on this impeachment business. You know, maybe the voters ought to decide that. Theres a big theres a big group of people in the Democratic Party who feel that the party would be a lot healthier if it let voters ultimately decide in 2020 whether they want donald trump in or out. Ive heard supporters and conservative broadcasters say, oh, they think its just the tactic by democrats who say, oh, we dont want to look at impeachment now because, but then once, if they do take over the house, theyre going to want to impeach him. I would think that lawmakers would take that seriously because it is very dangerous, i think, to try to remove a sitting president from office, right . Sure. Its very difficult. And its very difficult. The better precedent to be set is to vote him out, where people where the people decide on the presidency rather than impeachment. Impeachment is there for a reason, don. I dont think i can go there. I dont know, im not ready to say he should be impeached. I dont think the democrats should take it off the table because then theyre not doing their jobs. I mean, im very interested, if they take the house back, we see jerry nadler as the chair of judiciary, we see adam schiff as the chair of house intelligence. They get subpoena power. They learn more. Im not predicting theyre going to do it, but its got to be a possibility. Thats why its there. And alice is here as well. We wont forget about you, alice. Dont worry about it. Don its a possibility. Listen, if you dont have 67 votes in the senate, its a futile exercise and the country youre going after
him for the sake of Making Headlines or really have something to say . You know, it may be better to wait. Alice, i know you want to weigh in. I have a question about giuliani. Its a mistake to think about this election would be about impeachment. Its about employment. My question was, you think its ultimately a political question, no . I dont see i see voters are looking for at employment and jobs than the economy. And i think republicans, and democrats, at this stage of the game, to even be discussing impeachment with regard to how were going to approach the midterm is a huge mistake. We should all sit back, let mueller do the investigation and let the chips fall where they may. I think democrats are doing a tremendous disservice if they use that as Talking Point leading into the midterms. Alice, theyre not. Thats what im saying, if thats where they go. I think the point today was Rudy Giuliani used it as a Talking Point. Thats whats interesting. He thinks it gets out trumps base. He says theyre going to take this president away, going to treat him badly, theyre going to get rid of him and he thinks that mobilizes his base. It could just as easily mobilize the democratic base. Its a strong antitrump vote. Ill call it that. I wont call it proimpeachment. Ill go with david. Theres a difference. Theres a strong antitrump vote. When giuliani does that, hes the one playing politics with it, actually. Alice said, im paraphrasing here, said we should let the Mueller Investigation may out and not its the wrong strategy to bring it in now, but then the president tweets, its time for, you know, the Attorney General to end the investigation. Exactly. You know, this notion that theyre trying to have it both ways. I think most people are, you know, see through that. I think that theres a degree to which overall the Trump Administration, to use a george w. Bushism, misunderestimates the intelligence of the american people. Theyre playing us as fools. People see that. Don, i think to reiterate, i want to make it clear, i think itd be wrong for democrats and republicans, im including the Trump Administration as well, to use this as a wedge issue leading into this election, it should be it certainly should be off the table, and i think to quote trey gowdy, if youre innocent, act like it. And i think a lot of what we saw today with the tweets and what giuliani has said, these are not, in my view, the actions of someone who, you know, truly has a clear conscience in this regard. And i think were better served as they have said, if theyre truly cooperating with this investigation, its important to do it in word and in deed. Right. I think you were clear about both sides should use it and im glad you said that. I was going to ask you what youd say to the president and i think youd say exactly what you just said there on air to the president if he was sitting here. Yeah, i think what were seeing today in that tweet, in my view, i think the president is a little up in arms over a
face to face with mueller, and things are getting closer and the investigation is narrowing in, and its causing a concern. But at the end of the day, the real issue here is russian interference in our election. We dont know if there was any influence, the vote, we dont know if there was any collusion, but thats what we need to do as americans and as an administration, lets find out about russian interference in our election. Joan, you look at the president , his fiery tweets over the last 48 hours, hes clearly feeling the pressure from the Mueller Investigation. Right. From manafort. From cohen. I mean, manafort, cohen, Rudy Giuliani put on the table a new piece of information that there might have been a Planning Meeting for the june 9th meeting that rick gates was at. They now know more they appear to know more about what mueller has from rick gates and thats scaring them. So, you know, people all day were guessing, you know, is it that he got the news about
mueller . He wants to ask about obstruction of justice, is it cohen . Cohens gone into the background. I cant believe it. Cohen is the least of our conversation right now. It will come back around. It will definitely come back around, you know, or is it something that rick gates has said . And watching the manafort trial. I mean, all of this is closing in on him. Those are the tweets of a crazy person. Those are very, very deranged tweets. Don, ive been sitting here most the time looking at dons threads and wondering how is it possible to spend 1 million on clothing over five years . I know, don dresses so well. I dont think hes spending that much money. Theres no ostrich. Theres not a stitch of ostrich on him. I dont have pockets that have 10,000. Are i love that. I want a magic coat, too, don. Right, dont we all . We want it legal. Yes, we do, alice, right. Not be greedy. We have a lot to talk about, and well do that when we come back. Dont go anywhere. Oh
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or vision changes. Taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase the risk for low blood sugar. Common side effects are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, and constipation. Some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. I discovered the potential with ozempic®. Oh oh oh ozempic® vo ask your Healthcare Provider if ozempic® is right for you. Can you imagine, so, right in the midterms, can you imagine what voters are going to be facing, can you imagine what were going to be facing on the news . Can you imagine what voters are going to be facing as they go to vote . Theyre going to have a very clear choice. Its going to be very clear. Theres going to be chaos in the administration. You dont think that will be exhausting and so overwhelming that theyll be flooded with so much information that they really wont be certain . I dont think so. I mean, you know, i covered the virginia race in 2017, and things have been crazy for a while. Were the frogs in the boiling water. We dont quite realize it. Think its motivating to people on both sides, but i think more so for democrats. David . I think its time for everybody to get a rest in august. You have to buckle year seat belts for the fall. Were going to have one hell of a fall. I think most voters have a pretty clear view in their own mind about whether they approve or disapprove of donald trump. You know, he has a base thats been very strong. Its almost like a cult. But he also has a ton of people out there who hate him and think hes the worst thing that ever happened. And, you know, i think a lot of things are going to come up this fall that may jolt you one way or another, but i actually think were pretty well settled in what camp most people find themselves in. I dont think theyre going to change camps. Even with the outcomes of all of these things happening what could really jolt it possibly is if mueller comes with a smoking gun, if theres something there as there was with nixon when you have a tape, which convinced everybody he has to go. On both sides of the aisle. But so far, theres we see no evidence that thats whats coming. Alice stewart, this is what President Trump said today about possibly forcing a government shutdown. Watch this, please. Here you are suggesting that youd be willing to, maybe you would talk about shutting down the government if thats what it took to get this wall built. Its like pulling teeth. Getting these guys to to get it done is and you have to idea how tough ive been, and i
say, hey, if you have a shutdown, you have a shutdown, but whether its before or after. But i actually think its a Great Campaign issue. I think it would be great before. Wait, wait, alice, hold on. I wish you guys could have seen davids expression. David, why are you so exasperated by this . I dont understand why the question will he shut down the government or not is a Good Campaign issue or bad campaign issue. Hes president of the united states. He ought to govern on the merits. Thats what we elect him for. We dont send him in there to take a joyride about his politics and whether hes up or down, everything like it. To see everything through that prism demeans the president and makes him less effective as a president. Alice, do you agree . Do you think its a good idea or bad idea . Its a terrible idea. Clearly, if he wants to throw red meat at his base, sure, go out there and talk about building the wall and mexicos going to pay for it. That didnt happen. But clearly that is an issue reinforcing his immigration policies. Thats going to help generate support amongst his base which is great. If you notice when he talked about this the other day, he was emphatic with hes okay with the government shutdown, then he was followed up with a question, he said im open for negotiation, thats not a red line. I think this is a way of him once again putting that issue back on the table and he has walked that back a little bit. Hes saying, look, you know, we can wait and push this back, not in september but maybe consider this possibly in december. So this is this is clearly him flexing his muscle on this issue. I dont see that happening before the midterm. He understands the consequences of that and republicans arent going to let that happen. Alice, also hes on rush limbaugh, right . Right. He knows the audience there. Right. Rush wants we did a segment the other night, i said the midterms are clearly all its all about him. Right. Right . Well, hes making it that way. He thinks thats good for him but thats really about his ego and what feels good. Hes not going to shut down the government. Hes going to totally cave to mcconnell and ryan. Hes just talking tough. And