A news and interview program, anchored by Erin Burnett. Will be. He said we dont want questioning on obstruction. They would have to concede that. They are not on the same page on this crucial issue of Obstruction Of Justice. Why do you think the president is so against questions about Obstruction Of Justice given that the Public Record on this speaks for itself . He said one thing to nbc news and another thing on twitter. Why wouldnt he answer questions when he has been so public about it . What is his issue with it . I think the president does want to sit down with bob mueller and his Legal Counsel is advising him against this. Every good attorney wants to make sure that their client doesnt make any statements that can come back to cause them pain in the future. That is what his legal team i think is recommending that the president doesnt sit down. I think the president does want to sit down with bob mueller and get this behind him. There this is whole idea out there that he likes to be the good cop and say i want to talk
to him and then but my lawyers say i cant. So he gets credit for looking like an honest guy when he has no intention of doing it. You dont buy that . I dont buy that. I truly believe that this president wants to tell bob mueller his story but his attorneys dont want him to do it. His attorneys have been negotiating with the mueller team for months now about what a sit down could look like. This is no different than when bill clintons attorneys were recommending to him not to sit down with ken star. He was forced to do that and his attorneys didnt want him to but he was required to do it. This president is saying you negotiate the terms of this discussion and i will sit down because i have nothing to hide. That is what he wants to do with the mueller team. You heard obviously today he had his intelligence chiefs go out and say that he has directed them to fight meddling. Obviously, a few months ago he said they had not. When it comes to russia attacking american elections the president has repeatedly
minimized or denied russias role. Here are a few examples. Let me just remind our viewers. I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. I will go along with russia. Could have been china or a lot of different groups. It could have been somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds. Why cant he just say russia did it . Does he feel that somehow that is admitting that maybe they p helped him in the election . I think Sarah Huckabee sanders addressed this today during the Press Conference where she said it wasnt just russia that has attempted to meddle in our elections. They were small fish. Every report from the Intelligence Community, from every person who works for the president said it was russia directed by Vladimir Putin. United states where he can do something about it. Any meddling that took place took place under the obama administration. Any hacking that took place was a fault of the previous administration. He was a candidate for office at the time. Now we have seen today a steadfast resolve from all of the members of the Intelligence Community and said we will ensure that the integrity of the election process under this administration in 2018 is whole. That is a direction of this president. He had no ability in 2016 to prevent the outcome of an election. That was under the obama watch. If they failed that is what we are discussing. And yet 18 months ago he was told Vladimir Putin personally directed this. 18 months ago the Intelligence Community said Vladimir Putin did this with the intent to help donald trump and hurt hillary clinton. This was all 18 months ago. Today is the first time he sent his intelligence chiefs out to say what they said. That is a 59 d559 days. Why did it take so long . With all due respect i think some of the information he received from previous intelligence individuals was biassed and incorrect. More importantly about russia . About a number of things including false dossiers and an investigation i think we know are false. We know there is information that those intelligence individuals whether clapper or comey or others knew it was inaccurate and provided that to the president. As it relates to the integrity of our election process just because we havent been talking about it doesnt mean there havent been steps being put in place. If anybody has attempted to influence the outcome of a u. S. Election in an inappropriate way they should spend the rest of their lives in jail. I firmly believe that. You have said that. He has not said that. There is a difference. You have worked for him and are loyal to him. What we saw today was a
recommitment from the intelligence officials to ensure that they are taking every step necessary that we have integrity at the ballot box at the direction of this president. Just because they announced it today doesnt mean they havent been working on it for months. Today they said repeatedly his leadership and his support and gave him credit for that and his direction. Five months ago dan coats was very clear. Well go through each of the names. They were clear that they had not been directed by this president to take on russian meddling. That was five months ago. He had not directed them to do that. That has changed in just the past five months. I dont know when the conversation may or may not have occurred with his Intelligence Community members. What i do think is they dont need a direction from the president specifically to ensure that we have integrity at the ballot box. This is something they are tasked with and something they need to make sure so we have a free and fair democracy,
something that should have started the day that those gentlemen came into office because their predecessors failed during the 2016 election cycle. Thank you very much. Good to see you. Thank you. And next Breaking News in the Paul Manafort trial. His longtime accountant revealing he was broke around the same time he started kocozyg up to the Trump Campaign. And a suspected russian spy found working at the u. S. Embassy in moscow for a decade. vo when bandits stole the lockbox from the wells fargo stagecoach,
agent beekman was one step ahead of them. Because he hid his customers gold in a different box. And the bandits, well, they got rocks. We protected your money then and were dedicated to helping protect it today. Like alerting you to certain Card Activity we find suspicious. If its not your purchase, well help you resolve it. Its a new day at wells fargo. But its a lot like our first day. Jimmys gotten used to his whole yup, hes gone noseblind. Odors. He thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this. Luckily for all your hardtowash fabrics. Theres febreze fabric refresher. Febreze doesnt just mask, it eliminates odors youve. Gone noseblind to. And try Febreze Unstopables for fabric. With up to twice the fresh scent power, youll want to try it. Again and again and maybe just one more time. Indulge in irresistible freshness. Febreze unstopables. Breathe happy. Danger of losing his Health Insurance in early 2016. This is a time when Paul Manafort was approaching the Trump Campaign about becoming the manager of the Trump Campaign and offering to work for free. So the dichotomy is kind of stunning. The book keeper testified that at one point she was urgently asking for 120,000 so he could pay bills including property taxes. We also heard from the book keeper and his tax preparer. Both testified that Paul Manafort never told either of them about more than a dozen Bank Accounts that he kept in the island of tsiprsi cypress. These at least during the time that he had a lot of money this in contrast to 2016 when he was dead broke. It is pretty incredible. Now, i have to ask you about it. Day three, this is going much more quickly than had been earlier anticipated. Manafort is sitting in that room every day. His wife behind him. You have been watching them. What has his demeanor been so far, his reaction as he hears all of this. He goes in between paying close attention and going through some of the exhibits. They have a Computer Screen in front of him that is showing him some of the pictures of his ostrich jacket and the Python Jacket and pictures of some of the things that he has bought with this money. And then there are times when he is not looking at all. He is simply writing down notes. His wife sort of pays attention sometimes and other times just stairs down at the floor. The truth is that the odds are against Paul Manafort. This is a case that is based on documents. So its very likely that he knows what his fate will be if he is found guilty which is spending the rest of his life in
prison. Pretty incredible thing considering all the years he had gone without anybody noticing and then takes the high profile job and that is his undoing. I want to guy to rick gates former lawyer. And White House Correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks april ryan and Patrick Healy is here with me. Manafort was broke when he went to work for trump for free in 2016, maybe he thought you are back at the top of the u. S. Political world and help me get jobs overseas. How surprising is this . Broke when we are hearing about 60 million bucks from one country. This a breed from oligarchs. Particularly the political consultant game can be there can be very big pay days as we know from overseas. Paul manafort saw a lot of money to be gained in places like ukraine and sort of desperate characters and actors who had access to a lot of money. Frankly, he also saw that in donald trump. The notion of like this guy is about to win it looks like the republican nomination. He is loving this kind of attention. He is loving the train that he is on. How much money can i make from him . It is part of the american political consultant class. Its really surprising. April, again, this issue of being broke. Compared to what we heard today from the book keeper and some of the landscapers and others who testified about manaforts spending. I want to show everyone a picture. This is manaforts house in the ha hamptons. This is not the house of a broke man. 450,000 on landscaping and shaped a flower bed in the shape of an m. And then a pond, 2. 2 million
for apple tvs and other electronics including 10,000 for a karaoke system. Its just stunning. It just gives a perspective of how this person thought. He is spending money like this and then he is broke. In the hole, in the hole. He made it rain. He actually made it rain with the 60 million and it came from basically from the ukraine with connections to russia. Here is the thing. We cant fathom this because a lot of people have to deal with paying for college education. If you put two of the jackets together, the python and the ostrich you can possibly put a down payment on an Ivy League College education for one year. Think of that. He lived in a lifestyle that many of us would not understand. He was spending 1,200 on suits,
one suit 1,200. When you deal with a Pocket Square that is commensurate to the price of the suit and the shirt. For him to be broke like that, according to what they say in 2016, he was trying to come back. He was trying to make a financial come back by doing it for free. He was hanging in circles with people who had the money. He lost his but he was trying to get it back. It almost looked like pathetic you want to get money for Campaign Manager when you are worth this amount of money. The landscaper said there was a bill presented that supposedly he gave to manafort. The landscaper said i never did. He called it a quote fake invoice. He said the vendor name was wrong, the Home Improvement vendor said the same thing that
something manafort had been presented was not from him, it had the wrong name and address. What could be the significant of these Fake Invoices . Which totalled in hundreds of thousands of dollars a piece. That is a fascinating piece of evidence. We dont know how the prosecutors are going to end up tying that up yet. They are simply laying the foundation. It certainly sounds like from what we heard in court today that this is from merchandise and services possibly never received. That could be an important Building Block towards the notion that he was hiding money and got money and wanted to make it look like he was spending it. You know rick gates because you were his former lawyer. You know him well. He is obviously centered to all of this. We heard from more people all saying manafort and manafort alone was the one they dealt with, the one who did everything. Never heard any mention of rick gates. And now as manafort is trying to
say rick gates is the orchestrater of all of this. Rick gates may testify tomorrow and hit the stand. You know him. How important is his testimony going to be . I think that rick is extremely important to the case. Its a very bold move by the defense to put all their eggs in one basket and blame him for everything. It is very clever in the sense that he as an operational person is going to be at the center of everything so it allows the defense to mount a broad attack against all of the governments case just by focussing it on him. I think it will be critical. The down side you put all your eggs in one basket. If rick comes across well on the stand that will be devastating for him. If the glove doesnt fit there can be a big issue. Most people know who what i am referring. Gates and manafort worked side by side for years. Manafort was shocked and broken in a certain sense when gates turned on him. This is his worst nightmare. Rick gates knows all the secrets. This is a guy who they were extremely close. Rick gates was very loyal. Paul manafort of all things he thought could go wrong during the investigation, it Wasnt Rick Gates turning on him. The reality is we dont know where this is going to go. In terms of credibility you see the way that the prosecution is going. Manafort is very roughed up. You will have rick gates potentially coming in and laying on thick a lot of details that are going to be filling in blanks about either how greedy he was, how willing he was to go with people like donald trump to ukraine for a pay day. April, you heard evan. We are not seeing any no
sadness or contrition but a lot of engagement whether with actual exhibits or the computer in front of him from manafort. Thats the piece. People want to see that you have some kind of remorse or what have you. It doesnt play well in the court of Public Opinion when you see your items and you have no regard either way. The bottom line is well see what happens how he reacts when rick gates takes the stand. That will be very interesting because rick gates is trying to save himself. He is known, he perjured himself. Now the prosecution is saying we want you to believe him. Even though he purged himself we want you to believe him because he will be the smoking gun for manafort. We will see how deep this is and how extensive this is. Rick gates had a motive. He has i believe four young kids at home. Thank you all very much. Next bob mueller wants to speak with the russian who helped set up the Infamous Trump tower meeting with a russian informant. Breaking news, a suspected russian spy had been working in the u. S. Embassy for more than a decade. Why did it take so long for them to either figure it out or fire her . She had the schedule for the president of the United States on her desktop. Lets see why people everywhere are upgrading their water filter to zerowater. Start with water that has a lot of dissolved solids. Pour it through britas twostage filter. Dissolved solids remain . What if we filter it over and over . sighing oh dear. Thank goodness zerowaters fivestage filter gets to all zeroes the first time. So, maybe its time to upgrade. Get more out of your water. Get zerowater. Get more out of your water. Our new, hot, fresh breakfast will get you the readiest. buzzer sound holiday inn express. Be the readiest. [ horn honking ] [ Engine Revving ] whats that, girl . [ Engine Revving ] flo needs help . [ Engine Revving ] take me to her coming, flo why arent we taking roads . flo. [ horn honking ] oh. You made it. Do you have change for a dollar . This was the emergency . [ Engine Revving ] yes, i was busy 24hour roadside assistance. From americas numberone motorcycle insurer. You know, i think youre my best friend. You dont have to say im your best friend. Thats okay. You dont have to say im your best friend. With tough food, your dentures may slip and fall. New fixodent ultramax hold gives you the strongest hold ever to lock your dentures. So now you can eat tough food without worry. Fixodent and forget it. Does your Business Internet provider promise a lot . Lets see who delivers more. Comcast business gives you gigspeed in more places. The others dont. We offer up to 6 hours of 4g Wireless Network backup. Everyone else, no way. We let calls from any of your devices come from your business number. Them, not so much. We let you keep an eye on your business from anywhere. The others . Nope get internet on our gigspeed network and add voice and tv for 34. 90 more per month. Call or go online t