Chris Cuomo asks the tough questions to newsmakers in Washington and around the world. But they won, and if you look at why the women won, almost to a person they were much closer to the center and the Traditional Democratic views than what were seeing with the new crops, you included. Do you think that is a reflection about how much change your party can take and how soon, that more of those candidates are winning because theyre huing more closely to Traditional Democratic standards . Well, i think you have to take a look at two things. Where the American People are at and then also what wins campaigns. And its no secret that while Grassroots Campaigns absolutely are have their place and are very strong in Voter Turnout when they are able to turn out voters. Money does win elections. So when you have pac groups that are able to pour in half a million to a Million Dollars per race, that absolutely makes an impact. However, nothing changes the fact that the majority of americans believe and approve of
medicare for all, Single Payer Health care. 74 of democrats believe in medicare for all. So i think that the electorate and the American People are very clear about what they value and what they want but at the same time we do live in an environment where money and Unlimited Money wins a lot of elections. And so when you have organizations that are able to, you know, write a blank check that absolutely has an impact in races. But i think what we do know is that we are winning really hearts and minds and we are winning an american consensus on where we are going for our future. You know, theres that expression in journalism that the truth you know, democracy dies in darkness. You need the light of truth. Dies in dark money also. If you can get dark money out, and you cant, because the Supreme Court was really clear on it, and ill have to see if this court sees it any differently. Im not sure that it would. Dark money, 100 that is a nonpartisan issue. Then you get into the partisan issue of money, which is man, do you want to spend a lot of my
upheld the Affordable Care act is because they ruled that each of these Monthly Payments that Everyday Americans make is a tax. And so while it may not seem like we pay that tax on april 15th, we pay it every single month or we do pay It Tax Season if we dont buy, you know, these plans off of the exchange. So were paying for this system. Americans have the Sticker Shock of health care as it is. And were also not talking about why arent we incorporating the cost of all the Funeral Expenses of those who die because they cant afford access to health care. That is part of the cost of our system. Why dont we talk about the cost of reduced productivity because of people who need to go on disability, because of people who are not able to participate in our economy, because they have because theyre having issues like diabetes or they dont have access to the health care that they need. I think at the end of the day we see that this is not a pipe dream. Every other developed nation in the world does this. Why cant america . And that is the question that we
need to ask. We have done these things before. We write unlimited blank checks for war. We just wrote a 2 trillion check for that tax cut, the gop tax cut. And nobody asked those folks how are they going to pay for it. So my question is why is it that our pockets are only empty when it comes to education and health care for our kids. Why are our pockets only empty when we talk about 100 Renewable Energy thats going to save this planet and allow our children to thrive . We only have empty pockets when it comes to the morally right things to do. But when it comes to tax cuts for billionaires and when it comes to unlimited war we seem to be able to be into vent that money very easily. And to me it belies a lack of moral priorities that people have right now, especially republican party. And thats why there are elections. They have consequences. You will make your argument. And well see if the people like it better than the other side. Because there is a stark difference. And i make you another promise. This is a quick interview. We have a lot of time Going Forward before your race. Youre invited back on. Well go one issue at a time whenever you want. Thank you so much. Id love that. Appreciate you taking the opportunity. And be well. Of course. You as well. And we offer that opportunity to whoever her opponent winds up being. And really were going to do it with races across the country. Come on, lets have the discussion. Well disagree with decency where called for and try to find common ground. Now, the State Of Play changed a little bit today. Democrats may have a better chance to flip an additional seat in congress than just 24 hours ago. Republican congressman Chris Collins was indicted and arrested today. But collins is firing back tonight. Were going to weigh both sides of this case. In cuomos court. Next. Sarah always chooses to take the stairs. Well, esurance makes finding the right coverage easy. In fact, drivers who switched from geico to esurance saved an average of 412. Thats auto and Home Insurance for the modern world. Esurance. An allstate company. Click or call. Esurance. An allstate company. Sometimes a day at the ballpark is more than just a day at the ballpark. Stadium announcer all Military Members Stand and be recognized. No matter where or when you served, tmobile stands ready to serve you. Thats why were providing half off family lines to all military. A lot of paints say ordinthey can do the job,ver. But just one can behr through it all. Behr premium plus, a top rated interior paint at a great price. Family friendly, disaster proof. Find it exclusively at the home depot. Well, chris, thanks for having me back, your honor. In cuomos court. Theres a long tradition in american law that you commit Insider Trading when you have inside information and representative collins had that. He got a call at the white house congressional picnic, an email, that this companys drug had failed. And he called his son and told him, as alleged in the complaint, to unload the stock. Thats Insider Trading. Hold on. Look at ross getting that big smile on his face when you said that. Let me bounce it over to you. Norm is right that the indictment does say that collins got the information at a trial, that he was at a picnic, and then there was a series of missed calls and a received call that went some sixplus minutes with his son. Right. But what do we know about that call . Ross. Yeah, thats just it. So so far so what we know is ill concede the timing looks awful for the congressman. But we dont have tapes. We dont have consensual recordings, and we dont have that kind of proof about what exactly happened on that call. And heres whats important about it. One is did he disclose this information . But two, and this is something my colleague hasnt yet addressed. Its the State Of Mind. So whats going to matter is what was in the State Of Mind of the congressman and the State Of Mind of his son during that call and afterward. Bad fact for ross, bouncing it back to you, norm, is what happened after that phone call. What is the timing and what are the actions that the son took after that call . The son had an enormous position in innate immunotherapies which he unloaded in a long series of trades just in time to save himself from being financially
wiped out. Its not one, its not two, its trade after trade after trade that he was making. And not just that, chris. He gave that information, the complaint alleges, the charge is. He gave that information, the indictment says, to others. And theyre involved in this too. And they were able to escape losses. And the unfairness of it, it asks a lot to say oh, its a coincidence that all of these people unloaded their positions, they got out unscathed, whereas other people were wiped out when this trial was revealed, stock dropped 90 . Including Chris Collins, which hes depending on very hard. Ross, last point on this. In doing my research for this, usually an Insider Trading case is tough to make if you dont have a pattern. They wait, they start to get suspicious of somebody, the s. E. C. Is involved, they start to track you and they watch. If you do it once you do it again. Here theyre doing it basically from the indictment on this one transaction. But the principle of indirect
benefit is going to loom large, that even if collins didnt sell he helped his sxon and his son helped others and thats all on congressman Chris Collins. Your point. Yeah, i think one of the defenses you might hear, and i watched the congressmans press conference tonight, is that he cared so deeply, so deeply about this drug that he was so disappointed with the result that he wound up calling his Family Member and talked to his Family Member, talked to his son about how disappointed he was in this result. Did he have a duty . And he didnt intend did he have a duty . Duty he probably had to not tell his son. Whether he knew about it was a different matter. What its going to come down to perhaps is did he intend for his son to trade and did his son know that this was Insider Information . A lots going to depend on whats in these guys heads when theyre talking about it. And that we dont know yet. The son sold, norm, before the findings about the failed
trial came out. Thats a bad fact. Of course this is going to be the State Of Mind game. We have to find out about all these other people in the mix and what they knew. Lets leave that case there until we get more facts. Norm, the trump team, they put a deal back to mueller. Hey, you want an interview, lets do it. The trump team believes if you limit the questions, you limit the scope and you limit the manner of how you talk to this president in the interview you can have an interview. If not you get nothing. Time is on our side. Because youre going to be fighting in court for six months to a year over your subpoena p and you only really have great ground, high ground, when it comes to collusion, not obstruction. He was already president and you have limited immunity and youre going to have to make a special showing, and its going to be tough for you. So give us what we want. What do you say if youre on the mueller team . I know bob. Ive worked with him. Ive worked against him. Hes already said what hes going to do, chris. He was not playing when he told the president s lawyers that he will seek a subpoena. Theres present for that 2349 clinton case, for example, when clinton balked not as badly as this. Giuliani tipped his hand today, chris, when he said yeah, well answer questions. This is his offer. Well answer questions. Only if they dont create a risk of perjury, he called it, a perjury trap. But hes saying basically, well only answer questions if theres no exposure for the president if he lies. Theres no such question that bob mueller is going to agree to. Of course hes going proceed. And ill tell you right now that ive done an analysis. Ive written a lot about the law. I think that in the end of the day given the overwhelming evidence here, the u. S. V. Nixon precedent, similar but not identical, that the president s going to be forced to appear tore a testimony under a mueller
subpoena eventually. The time hurts the president because this cloud and the drama thats going to hang over him in the midterm elections, time is on muellers side, not President Trumps. Youve got two good guests here tonight. Youve got my colleague, whos worked with mueller, and ive represented a lot of Public Officials including in impeachment cases. And i will tell you this. I think it is incredibly unlikely, vanishingly unlikely that the president is going to sit for an interview or testimony. And ill also tell you theres nothing that Special Counsel Mueller can do to force him because normally what happens is that if you get a subpoena to testify before a grand jury and you dont show up the prosecutor can go to court and a court can order that you be held in custody unless and until he actually testified. Thats what happens. I am telling you, no court in this land is going to order that the president be taken into
custody until he testifies. Ross, interesting points. Thank you very much. Norm eisen, value added as always. Appreciate, it gentlemen. I did have the right guests. Heres a fact for you. California is burning. Okay . That Mendocino Complex Fire is the biggest one they have ever seen. But the president tweeted something about the situation that demands a fact check. Youre going to want to see this. Next. Come here, babe. Ok. Nasty Nighttime Heartburn . Try new alkaseltzer pm gummies. The only fast, Powerful Heartburn Relief Plus Melatonin so you can fall asleep quickly. Oh, what a relief it is
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. Facts first. Thats the mannedite here on Cuomo Prime Time. Let me show you the Mendocino Complex Fire. Okay . This is the biggest series of fires theyve ever had in california. Its already burned an area nearly the size of los angeles. I mean, look at this. If you were to draw circles around what the fire sizes actually are, they almost wind up being exactly the same. Think about that. Now, we often get caught up in the numbers. You dont want to do that. Its not about the numbers. Its about the numbing reality on so many families. You see what im showing you on the wall over here . The lives lost. Homes. Schools. Businesses. Parks. Entire communities. Incinerated. Were going to leave these pictures up here during the magic wall because you need to keep in mind this is the reality for the people in the path of these fires. Its a disaster. It warrants nothing but sympathy and support. And yet the president has tried to make it about something else. How so . Heres how. He tweets this first. Governor jerry brown must allow the free flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the north and foolishly being diverted into the pacific ocean. Boy, he seems to know a lot about this. I wonder why. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else. Think of california with plenty of water. Nice. Fast federal government approvals. Then he doubles down. California wildfires magnified and made so much worse, means the same thing, by the bad environmental laws which are allowing massive amounts of readily available water to be properly utilized. Its being diverted into the pacific ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire from spreading. Such newfound scientific
analysis from our president , embracing these Environmental Issues so subtly. I wonder why. And then trumps attempt to clarify. Didnt really help. Take a listen. Its a very tough situation taking place in california for a number of years. And were going to have to have some meetings about it because there are reasons and there are things you can do to mitigate whats happening. Didnt seem to know as much there. Meetings . Like thats the fix . If he wants to mitigate whats happened, why would he exacerbate the situation by putting out false blame . Proof of it being false . Here. California fire guys. They know whats going on, right . The firefighters. They shot it down. We have plenty of water to fight these fires, they say. How about the cofounder of the Pacific Institute . All right . Thats what they study. He called trumps idea gobbledygook and then a bad word. And theres no shortage of water to fight fires. Thats what theyre saying. So lets show you this. Why hes so strong about it. Here are the fires. Here are the reservoirs. Several major ones in the heart of the worst zone of the fires. They are not empty. Therefore, the problem is not water, to the extent they even use water in fighting these. There are other tools that they use, which they say they have been employing. So why is it so bad . The weather. July was the hottest month in california history and the wildfires are getting worse. But if you want to address that, if you want to be ambitious, you dont do what trump did. You take on real issues. Climate change and our role in it. Emission standards like the ones that the president wants to reduce zpat of california wants to fight him on. Instead he comes stumbling in and spreading specious smoke. Why . The answer, politics. Water is political in california, especially for some of i told you them. Some of his biggest allies in congress. Mccarthy and nunes. They are leading conservative voices on Water Policies in california and they have an agenda that affects the balance of how much water is used for agriculture versus conservation efforts. Now trumps tweets start to make a little bit different sense in context, right . Theyve clashed with the State Government and the environmentalists. So trump picks now to help out his boys by spreading smoke as peoples lives are burning . Come on. And if he really wants to meet about mitigating a natural disaster, hows this for an idea . Start with the aftereffects in puerto rico. We didnt forget. Fema said 64 died. A harvard study with thousands of interviews says 4600 died. Why isnt our president curious about that