I say no. That was jim comeys mistake. Plus, after the president kept bashing nfl players for taking a knee during the National Anthem, the league imposed new rules and fines. But if they think thats fixing the problem, im throwing a flag on that play. And this is commencement season. And speakers of all stripes are addressing the Political Climate but should they go so far as to name the president . Plus, an exclusive interview with an author who is fighting the good fight to bridge the partisan divide and donating all his profits to charity. Chris cuomo is here to question the esteemed author of a brandnew book clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. And that would be me. First, in recent days, the president and conservative media promoted a theory that the fbi embedded a spy within the Trump Campaign dearing the 2016 election. This plot holds that the intel community, the socalled deep state, with the support of then president obama used this spy to destroy the Trump Campaign from the inside. And it was that work that spurred the Mueller Probe now being used to frame President Trump. Thats why the president has labeled the Mueller Probe a witch hunt or spygate. Watching the ensuing partisan debate unfold, i find it to be big on sound bites but thin in evidentiary analysis. The facts are a bit complicated, only makes them more easily conflated. But i think i can distill it in about three minutes time. Start your timer. Philip bump of the Washington Post has published the best tick tock to date. Hell be here in a moment. If this was a book id call it the tale two of professors. On march 14, 2016, joseph masoud, the director of the London Academy of diplomacy met George Papadopoulos in italy. One month later he told papadopoulos that the russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. Quote, they have thousands of emails, he said. Thats information that papadopoulos shared soon thereafter with an australian diplomat named alexander downer. Three months later on july 22nd, 2016, wikileaks began releasing emails stolen from the dnc. Seeing this, the australians now realized that what papadopoulos told their diplomat was true. They reported this to the fbi and the Russian Investigation was launched. Naturally, papadopoulos, given what he told the australian diplomat, was a focus. So, too, carter page who was already on the fbi radar screen. Page had just travelled to moscow to give a speech. And while there sent a memo to Trump Campaign staff alerting them of the desire of a Russian DeputyPrime Minister to work together. Now enter professor number two. Hes a confidential source who cnn wont name. A retired emeritus professor at the university of cambridge. Also a former white house official from the nixon, ford and reagan administrations. His relationship with u. S. Intelligence dates back at least to 2012 when he began work with the pentagon think tank. This confidential source had himself recently met carter page at Cambridge University at a political conference. He would subsequently have interaction with papadopoulos and sam clovis, three different representatives of the Trump Campaign. Theres no evidence to suggest that the confidential source was a part of the Trump Campaign nor anything to indicate that he was ever embedded into the Trump Campaign. He reportedly appears to have provided the fbi with information about his interactions with the three Trump Campaign officials as the fbi was trying to investigate russian meddling in the american election. Thats the timeline. Now three points i want to make. First, ask yourself this. When the fbi was contacted by the representatives of a u. S. Ally australia and told that a president ial campaign operative had accurately predicted a hostile governments document drop of stolen emails of another president ial campaign, what should the fbi have done . Run it down, of course. Second, as noted by aaron blake of the Washington Post, the reason these facts dont make sense as a spygate conspiracy is that if the aim were to ushd mine Donald Trumps election, then why did all this remain a secret until after the election . Consider that one week before the election, the New York Times reported on the Russian Investigation, but the story said that agents had uncovered, quote, no conclusive or direct link between mr. Trump and the russian government. If this was a deep state conspiracy to deny trump the white house, then that was the time to drop that bomb. But that didnt happen. And finally, what it all suggests to me, at least, is that to the president and his partisans, this is not about evidence. Its about inoculation. The aim is to prepare the country for a scenario whereby special Counsel Robert Mueller gives to deputy ag Rod Rosenstein a report outlining a colorable case for obstruction of justice that would then go to the congress for a debate. If spygate is effectively sold, half the country will already be of a mindset that the Mueller Report is the product of a flawed investigation, even though thats unsupported in the facts. Joining me now is philip bump, a correspondent for the Washington Post. He wrote the piece i referred to how the fbi informants outreach to trump staffers fits into the overall investigation. What can you tell us about the interactions this confidential source had with the three Trump Campaign officials . You nailed the overview. He had some limited conversations with page. He had met him at a conference and had emails with him. He had a brief interaction with papadopoulos in london in september and then one sitdown with sam clovis. And it was to help negotiate the Foreign Policy advisers which page and papadopoulos were. Its very complicated. But all of that said, the important thing to take away is that the contact between this informant and the members of the Trump Campaign was fairly limited but more importantly it all happened after the fbi had already started investigating these folks. Though fbi had a conversation with page in march 2016. Already a conversation with him in 2013 when it looked like the russians were trying to flip him. The confidential informant did not speak to papadopoulos until midseptember which was a month and a half after the investigation opened. So all of this suggests that this was adding some evidence to what the fbi was already looking at, not that this was a predicate for the investigation itself. I want to put on the screen a tweet from the president that you used in your column. He wrote this. Reports are that there was indeed at least one fbi representative emplanted for political purposes into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, my e emphas emphasis, and long before it became a hot fake news story. If so, alltime biggest political scandal. Is that tweet factually accurate . No, its nonsense. What we see in that tweet is President Trump trying to make up the story that he wants to tell. Not any sort of representation of what actually is going on. As i said, the irnts actinterac happened after the fbi looked at this. He was in no way part of the campaign. I spoke with a former fbi official several weeks ago before the a lot of the details were known and i asked him because it was clear at that point in time that would be a key distinction. Was somebody implanted into the campaign or just talking to folks and trying to figure out what happened. If they planted somebody in the campaign, that would be a big deal. If they were just trying to figure out if somebody committed a crime, it wasnt at all. He made an analogy of somebody trying to rob the bank. If you were investigating an employee stealing from a bank, thats not an investigation of the bank. Its an investigation of that employee and that was the line that he drew. Its very easily conflated because it is confusing. But i said i think you have assembled the best tick tock of what this is all about and anybody who wants to know what the facts insu s are should gog. Up ahead, a lot of talk Robert Mueller needs to wrap up his investigation soon so that it wont impact the midterms. I beg to differ, and ill tell you why. To deliver up to 7 hours of sleep support. Number one sleep doctor recommended remfreshyour nightly sleep companion. Available in the Natural Sleep section at walmart. Which is why i use armor tall ultra shine wash wipes. Y. They effectively remove dirt, dust and grime with no water. 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And of course, to the progressive snapshot app for giving good drivers the discounts no, i have to say it for giving good drivers the discounts they deserve. Safe driving for giving good drivers the discounts they deserve. Heartburn and gas . Now fight both fast new tums chewy bites with gas relief all in one relief of heartburn and gas tum tum tum tums new tums chewy bites with gas relief im about to start the hair, skin and nails challenge. So my future self will thank me. Thank you. I become a model . Yes. No. Start the challenge today. And try new tropical citrus flavor with collagen. Natures bounty. Question by what date is it too close to the midterms for special Counsel Robert Mueller to release his report . My question is none. Let me explain. The president s lawyer Rudy Giuliani claimed that the special counsel hopes to finish the obstruction inquiry by september 1st because, according to the New York Times, waiting any longer would risk improperly influencing voters in novembers midterm elections. But a report by reuters suggests that giulianis deadline was selfgenerated in an effort to pressure the special counsel to hasten the end of his work. I dont think mueller should take into consideration the election timeline at all. To do so would be to repeat james comeys mistake. You remember that on july 5th, 2016, comey held that unusual press conference about ending the inquiry into Hillary Clintons email server. He acknowledged that the fbi did not normally make public its recommendations to prosecutors as to whether to bring criminal charges but added that given the motorance of the matter, i think unusual transparency is in order. He went on to editorialize while secretary clinton and her colleagues had not intended to violate any laws, they were extremely care unless their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information. Blasting the subject of a criminal probe who is not being indicted highly unusual. Then october 28, 11 days before the election and when early voting was well under way across the country, comey revealed to the congress, knowing it would be revealed in the public domain, that he had reopened the hillary investigation because of Anthony Weiners laptop. Again, highly unusual. Why did he do it . It seems that comey, like many, was placing a bit too much stock in the prognostications of nate silver and others believing hillary was about to be elected and not wanting anyone to believe hed kept the matter silent so as to protect his future boss. Especially where donald trump was claiming the election was rigged. So by reporting to congress on the reopening of the probe, he overcompensated. Just as he had done months prior with the public dressing down of someone who was not being indicted. Then on november 6th, two days before the election, comey informed the congress that the fbi had seen the new emails and the bureau had not changed its conclusion that clinton should not face charges. Two days later, donald trump was elected. So americans had voted knowing that Hillary Clinton had been the focus of a federal probe but not realizing that the Trump Campaign was also being investigated in connection with the russian meddling. That conflicting scenario was brought about by james comey taking politics into consideration. And i say that Robert Mueller should not make the same mistake. Instead, finish the tax expeditiously and release its report whenever his work is concluded, whether its now or come september, october, november. Besides, Donald Trumps name wont be on the ballot. Joining me now is nelson cunningham. He served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of new york under giuliani and also served as General Council of the Senate Judiciary committee under joe biden and white house general counsel of the office of administration under bill clinton. Not bad. Hes the author of this politico piece three predictions for what mueller will do next. I think you disagree with me. For politico you said theres an ironclad principal that prosecutors should not take action that could influence an election. Respond to what i just said. Sure, thank you. Good to be with you. It is an ironclad principle. We need to maintain the integrity of our criminal justice and prosecution system. Its drilled into every prosecutor thats working on a case that touches public figures not to take an action in the window before an election or in any way that could shape the election. This was so obvious that in 2008, george w. Bushs attorney general wrote a memo to those at the Justice Department warning them against this. And in 2012, Barack Obamas attorney general eric holder simply took the same memo, put his name at the top and reissued it virtually verbatim. This goes beyond politics. Its something every prosecutor considers because no prosecutor wants to be in a position of james comey and having to ask later in his memoirs, gee, did i somehow affect this election . So apply that now to the case at hand. July is when you say comey pardon me, mueller either needs to put forth his report or keep his powder dry until after the election. Of course, theres no magic date but what i did is i took a look at past cases. So the hillary email investigation, comey pushed his agents to finish the work in june. She was interviewed july 2nd. He held his press conference july 5th. Another highprofile case, senator ted stevens brought up on charges of corruption, and he was charged on july 29th of an Election Year in which he was on the ballot. July seems to be would seem to me to be about the last window. Rudy giuliani says september 1. Fine. July or august. Now its memorial day weekend. And mueller has not yet had the opportunity to question the president. If im the president and if i buy into the idea that this could all be a setback for the gop in the midterm elections, if i want to delay this, then i want to stall some more, bring on the summer with the confidence that that report wont see the light of day before americans going to the ballot box. Thats one of the reasons why i think muellers got to just block all this out, do his job, finish it and issue it. First of all, its very hard for mueller to block it all out. He knows that anything he does is going to be picked apart, is going to be scrutinized, is going to be second guessed, triple guessed, quadruple guessed. He does not want to be part of the political equation. He just wants to finish his job and get it done. Can the president delay . Of course he can. But bob mueller has something in his hands that he can issue at any moment which is a grand jury subpoena to the president commanding him to appear at the District Court on the below date and time and not to leave until relieved by the District Court of that judge district judge of that court. He can give that to the president at any time and force the president to testify. Now, will they fight over the day, when quick final question. Go ahead. You think he has that subpoena in his possession already . Its a very simple document. All it requires is his signature and then duly serving it on the president. Then you get into a legal fight over when and where but thats his ultimate trump card. No pun intended. Nelson cunningham, thank you for being here. Thank you very much. Next week, my seventh book will be released. Ive got an advance copy. Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right. Its a collection of 100 of my more memorable newspaper columns from the more than 1,000 ive published since 9 11. I wrote a new afterward for each celebrating what i got right and owning what i got wrong. I once took umbrage with a move to make the miss