P 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 for a limited time, when you get fast, reliable internet, you can add voice for just 24. 95 more per month. Call or go online today. Call or go on line today. Welcome to inside politics. Im john king. Thank you for sharing your day with us. New tension and new intrigue in the Paul Manafort trial. Prosecutors again challenge remarks the judge made with the jury present. And we now know star witness rick gates is also helping with other still secret aspects. Plus, hows this for turning the tables . News, analysis and interviews with politicians and observers. Now is that this will kick off the appeal process, again so they can argue that Andrew Miller does not want to and will not appear before the grand jury as a part of this investigation. What they have argued in the past is they believe this investigation on its whole is unconstitutional, and that is why they think miller should not have to participate in this testimony, this grand jury testimony. So this is their plan going forward. Obviously keep in mind miller is not the only aide related to roger stone. Somebody in roger stones orbit that muellers team has been interested in, Kristen Davis is supposed to appear later today. So were on the lookout for her as well, john. Mj lee outside the courthouse where the grand jury is here in washington. Appreciate it. Keep in touch if theres more developments. Lets go back to the manafort
trial. One of the things we dont know is what is this about . At this point, were getting close to getting to the jury. Judges and attorneys have more conversations at that time in a trial. Now you have this mystery where this judge goes out. As we try to figure out what this mystery is, and i dont want to speculate. We know that the prosecutors came to court today for the succeed d second day in a row asking the judge to clean up some of the words they say were prejudicial. They were having testimony yesterday about a loan Paul Manafort was trying to get, and the judge cracked saying, focus on a loan he actually got. The prosecutors are mad. If youre in a criminal conspiracy, it doesnt matter if you get to the finish line. So theres been tension with the judge about his conduct in the case. How significant is that . I mean, could be significant. We dont know exactly what this delay is all about. We dont know if the judge will clear up any of the things the prosecution has been concerned
about. They are concerned what hes been saying could influence the jury in the long run. I think whats interesting also is that we dont know about why a decision was made to seal this discussion that occurred also involving rick gates and the Trump Campaign and if this is a suggestion by the prosecution that gates is cooperating with the mueller team about that separate investigation, which is about russian interference and about whether there was any collusion with the Trump Campaign. So a lot of unanswered questions. Well see how significant they turn out to be. Normally you get toward the end of a trial, youre clearing up questions. At this juncture, were adding questions. Heres what happened in court. The defense lawyer questioning rick gates, the star witness, Paul Manaforts former Business Partner who said, yes, we broke a lot of laws, yes, we lied on our taxes, yes, we lied on these bank forms. Thats what rick gates has been saying. The defense has been trying to say you did this. Paul manafort is not involved. Kevin downing, the defense attorney. Have you been interviewed by other members of the Office Of Special Counsel about the Trump Campaign . Rick gates, yes. Downing, and were you interviewed on several occasions about your time at the Trump Campaign . So the defense brings the campaign into the trial. The prosecution says, whoa, stop. They go up to the judge. There was a court filing. The conversation they had with the judge is now sealed. Often those kwfrconversations s up later. That has been ordered sealed because the Special Counsel filed this, disclosing the identified Transcript Portions would reveal substantive evidence pertaining to an ongoing investigation. Sealing will minimize any risk of prejudice from the disclosure of new information relating to that ongoing trial. So rick gates is not just a key witness in the Paul Manafort trial. Theyre trying to mine gates for something later. Thats where this gets really
fascinating. This whole case about manafort has been kind of hard to follow. Its unrelated to President Trump other than that manafort was very important to his campaign. The gates stuff is directly relevant to what mueller is looking into. He was in a key position during all of these key moments. The trump tower, the wikileaks document dump. And he stayed on after manafort left. So hes in a very important position to reveal something. Now we have what seems to be evidence that he is talking with the Special Counsel. That his role is way more important than just rearview mirror, what Paul Manafort and he did before they joined the campaign. But i think it also reminds us of how much we dont know about whats going on with the investigation. Sometimes i feel like im having coffee with Rudy Giuliani every morning because hes on tv so much. But were only hearing 50 of the story. I think thats a really important thing to keep in mind, especially when you get these little trickles of information
that make you say, oh, well, whats behind the door . We really dont know. So i think when we look at the polling numbers, when we think about this investigation as a political entity, we just dont know whats going to come. Its really hard to be predictive or, you know, make assumptions like the Trump Campaign seems to make. Oh, thisll be done by september 1 because of this doj guidance. Well, its not so clear that doj guidance pertains to this investigation. So i think thats a really important thing to keep in mind here. Yeah, i think watching the trial unfold, the question raised in many peoples minds is how does this relate to the 2016 election . How does it relate to russian meddling . That conversation that Defense Lawyers raise really revealed that the mueller team was talking to rick gates and perhaps using him has plannings to use him as a witness against trump. Not only that, but if they extract a conviction against manafort, they also hope to squeeze him for information. You come away when you see that with a clear impression the Special Counsel the trump people would like to say this is an isolated case, nothing to do with the Trump Campaign. Special counsel making the case this is a building block, this is one of our cases, but were going to move on from here. To the point you make about so much we dont know. Mj lee standing outside of that courthouse. A person most people in america havent heard of, Andrew Miller defies a subpoena. Think back to the Elliott Spitzer days, a lot of people heard of Kristen Davis, the Manhattan Madam. Shes about to be a witness for the grand jury. You say, what . What does this have to do with Russian Election meddling or any Trump Campaign nefarious activity alleged . We do know theyre both very good friends of roger stone. We do know roger stone says this is just because hes a good twitter reader and a good interview reader. Roger stone knew in advance or signaled in advance about the wikileaks document dump. Do we have any sense of how they think these Stone Associates can get them to a relevant piece of information . We know that theyre circling
around roger stone. For weeks theyve been interviewing some of his key associates, people like michael caputo, longtime friend of roger stone, and others. They have not spoken with stone, which is also a suggestion they want to talk to people in his orbit before talking to him. I think it also signals more broadly the trump team wants this to conclude by september. This is not going to conclude by september. This investigation is ongoing. Theres a lot we dont know. There are some key people yet to be interviewed. They ultimately have to determine how to move forward. To that point, theres no hard and fast rule the Special Counsel has to shut down. Theres a general principle that within 60 days or so, you dont deliberately do anything that could interfere with that election. James comey is recent exhibit a in how people say dont do it that way. Heres jay sekulow, one of the president s lawyers. They continue to make the public case that mueller has a
responsibility to shut it down. This needs to be over with soon. Its i think its been very bad for the country. Were at a point in this inquiry where they can wrap it up. This has been the most transparent investigation in u. S. History. All of these documents given, all of these witnesses put forward, they really dont need to speak to the president. They havent made the constitutional case to speak to the president. He doesnt mention all the stories changed. I would also say all the lies told. The president s lawyers, well see if they ever end up in go court, if theyre good lawyers. Theres no requirement on Robert Mueller, number one. Number two, most people who know Robert Mueller think hes a career guy. Hes not going to deliberately poke during an election season, but hes going to do his work. Theyre just trying to convince, what, the electorate that if bob mueller keeps going, hes a horrible person . Its an argument about propriety and if he were to do something, it would be a break with tradition, inappropriate,
and the president s lawyers are making political arguments because theyre worried about impeachment, which is a political matter. I think theyre doing whats appropriate in the interest of their client. But to lisas point, we dont hear from bob mueller during all of this. We only hear from the trump side of things. Thats had a big hit on bob muellers numbers. Hes been sort of slowly and methodically doing the work and building his case. When he wants us to know something, he will let us know something. Last i checked, President Trump is not on the ballot. Theres a real open question about how much of that rule pertains to elections where the person in question is not on the ballot. Great point. Well keep an eye on this one as we count down to those 60 days. Were mainly waiting to see what happens in the manafort trial this afternoon. Up next, President Trump being criticized for not doing enough to secure the border. By a democrat. You wouldnt accept an incomplete job from any one else. Why accept it from your Allergy Pills . Flonase sensimist relieves all your worst symptoms, including nasal congestion, which most pills dont. And all from a gentle mist you can barely feel. Flonase sensimist. Were building that wall. Were building the wall. Dont worry. Weve already started. Weve already started. Were building that wall. Weve already started. Were doing a lot of things that people dont even know about. Thats President Trump this past weekend in ohio recycling a signature 2016 theme in an effort to excite Republican Voters about the 2018 midterms. But the administrations own numbers dont always back up the president s tough immigration talk. And because of that, we have an interesting midterm twist today. The president still struggling to get his wall money from congress and arrests for illegal Border Crossings are up in 2018 after dipping last year. So, get this, a vulnerable trump state democratic senator now trying to turn the tables. North dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp says, quote, i dont share the view when people say, well, we dont need to do anything. The border is secure. The border is not secure, but we need to be smart about how we doBorder Security. Heres the punchline. Were waiting for a southern border strategy. Bam. Its not often that you have a democrat essentially saying the president either isnt tough enough or doesnt have a plan, choose your way to characterize it, on immigration. Yeah, moving to the right of trump. She also supported the gang of eight Immigration Bill that did have a lot of Border Security money but also included a pathway to citizenship for people here illegally. This is an issue that of course suggesting shes trying to reposition herself to the right. Yes, perhaps. I know thats shocking in an election year. Undoubtedly, this is an issue republicans view as something they can energize their base on. Trump is saying theyre starting to build the wall. That is far from the truth right now. And theyre not getting the money they need. Hes also not fulfilling his own campaign pledge. Where is mexico paying for this . Hes talked about the
possibility of a Government Shutdown if he doesnt get a big chunk, an allocation of money in the last spending bill they have to do when Congress Comes back. I want to put these numbers up so you see them. Theres been a lot of tougher enforcement by the administration, but theres also this. The numbers dont lie. Southern Border Patrol apprehensions. You see the numbers going up. This is the current fiscal year. The government fiscal year starts in october, running through july. You see those numbers. Heres a little comparison. Fiscal year 2014 when obama was president , theres the numbers there. Family unit apprehensions, just shy of 70,000. 14, just 77,000, almost 78,000. The trump number is higher than the obama numbers. I think there are two ways to read those numbers. One is are there more crossings because the economy is booming and the president is empowering Border Patrol agents to arrest people . But the heitkamp thing is such a fascinating win doe into redstate democrats. Shes not the only one. Joe donnelly of indiana came out
saying he supports building the wall. Joe manchin of west virginia, the same. On the wall in particular, i really think that the president s calls to build the wall are i go back to that old cliche of the election that trumps voters take him seriously but not literally. I really think it stands for really people wanting Strong Border enforcement. You know that heitkamp called really for a southern border strategy. I think shes right on with that. I dont think trumps voters will be disappointed if we dont have a wall specifically, but they do want border enforcement. One of the strengths of the Trump Campaign was that he was and rightly so in many cases, able to look voters in the eye and say Career Politicians are hypocrites. They say one thing and do another. He made the case that the clintons dont play by the rules. Sometimes fairly, sometimes not so fairly. That sold. Dont trust Career Politicians. Will it affect him that he rails against this socalled Chain Migration . And forgive me, his wifes parents were made United States citizens yesterday through the very policy that the president
of the United States says should be ripped up and thrown away. It probably should, you know. It is clearly hypocritical. There are so many instances where hypocrisy doesnt seem to stick to donald trump. Why that is, you know, is many Thesis Papers to explore that. I do think that its a clearly hypocritical move where his family is benefitting. Its kind of another interesting instance where melania trumps parents, the lawyer for them, was making a clear point in stating that Chain Migration is a dirty word to describe family reunification. Its one of those instances where melania in her view points are totally at ods from President Trump and his view points and what his administration is doing. We shall see as that plays out. I think this will affect him about as much as the trump organizations use of foreign
workers to biuild properties. There you go. And Heidi Heitkamp trying to turn the tables. Well see if any democrat takes this issue and puts it into a campaign. Up next, republicans midterm messaging features one familiar face this cycle not named President Trump. When i received the diagnoses, i knew at that exact moment. Im beating this. My main focus was to find a team of doctors. Its not just picking a surgeon, its picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. Visit cancercenter. Com breast
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