Controversial Stand Your Ground law. The lawyers who represented Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman are here. Plus, for the president , it was the best of weeks and the worst of weeks, depending on your point of view. Michael cohen again dominating headlines claiming trump knew in advance of the heating with russian representativeles. Meanwhile, the longstanding accountant gets a federal subpoena. Amidst the legal woes came more economic news. The president lifts the gdp above 4 . Midterms on the horizon, is it still the semistupid . And this Pennsylvania 5th and 6th grade teacher has been moonlighting for years. Suddenly its endangering his day job . Because he plays a bad guy that does the nazi salute and shouts
z zig heil. There are no charges in florida because of the florida stands your ground law. Its the same one much discussed in the killing of Trayvon Martin. Now, federal lawmakers are calling the doj to investigate. So how did we get here . After finishing her nursing shift, Brittany Jacobs and her boyfriend wanted to grab snacks and drichgs. So they took their kids under the age of 6, they parked in the handicapped spot, despite none of the people in the car are disabled. Mclaughlin and her 5yearold went inside. Also in the lot a regular at the circle a whose pet peefb was able bodied people taking that reserve spot. After inspects their car for a
haent capped permit owe handicapped perm and drew none. Mclaughlin noticed, came out of the store, confronting the Man Threatening his girlfriend and kids and he takes out a gun immediately and shoots him. After the sheriff declined and charged him, there were public calls for the sthat enate to do otherwise. They asked the doj to investigate the case with signatures from corey booker, Kamala Harris and ac hastings. Joining me to discuss this issue, benjamin crump, who famously represented Trayvon Martins family and mark ohara who defended george virm. The sheriff said the heater is
said having been slammed to the ground, he was going to be slammed again is that the right question this. I dont think so, michael. You can watch the video. Its clear when he pulls that gun out. We have to remember hes the initial aggressor. This is a australian him man who approaches a mother in the car with her two toddlers in the back seat. Just imagine that for a second . How you feel tore that. But after he comes out to defend his family and defend his property, if anybody should have the right to Stand Your Ground it is him. When he pushes him back and he falls, he pulls the gun out. Watch the video. Marquise mclaughlin takes four steps back, four seconds elapsed, he is not in intimate fear. There is no on theive threat. There is no justification for him to shoot Marquise Mclaughlin in front of his infant children. As i watch that and eval wait the tape myself. Is the sheriffs analysis incorrect or is the law at fault . Im not comfortable with the outcome of this case. I should say out front. Am i to blame the law or the way in which its being applied . I think the sheriff is incorrect, the state attorney Bernie Mccabe should know that there is enough evidence to charge this killer with cold blooded murder. Less troubling for many in communities of cover that you can pick a confrontation. You can be the initial aggressor. You killed an unarmed black person and then you say, oh, it was self defence. I was standing my ground. You get to go home and sleep in your bed at night. We think the law is a bad law that encourages people to take the law into their own hands. Its a license to kill black
people and people of color, because many times when black people make their Stand Your Ground argument, its behind the bars of a jail cell but white moo people make their stands your Ground Arguments a week later after they have been sleeping in their beds comfortable the law is applied racially. We feel its a terrible law that florida needs to address. They were the leader for Stand Your Ground. Hopefully they can have laws about rights. We have little laws about gun responsibility, if any. Thank you so much for being here. Let me shift to mark omar. Reporter was this a case of retribution or self service . Well, you know the way ben said it is a good analysis of it. The sheriff had a problem with the Stand Your Ground law
because the sheriff could, in fact, be liable if he arrests without good reason. So to answer the question, when you look at that tape, when you look closely at it, mr. Mclaughlin did, i disagree with ben, mclaughlin was the initial aggressor in that he started the physical confront axe, having said that he also backed off after. That i dont think the shooter tant gets to shoot as you say, as i said in retry buchlths i have a tough time believing even though he was on the ground he was in reasonable fear of imminent great bodily injury. Everything else aside, we do need to look at it from his perspective, are you in reasonable fear at that moment of ongoing imminent great bodily harm and quite honestly, i dont think the tape shows it, even presuming the way a person looks, reacts and interprets
things when theyre in the middle of a physical confrontation. In other words, if we can Za Bruder The Tape the man who shoved him is towering over him. The question, whats in his head and is whats in his head a reasonable fear of imminent great bodily harm. Boom. Right there is the question. Thats absolutely correct. The only analysis i would add to it, we do need to look at it as the statute requires from dresdas perspective. What what he is going through. You get thrown to the grounds, you have a dutch of adrenaline into your body. We know from cops telling, you get Tunnel Vichlgs you dont hear things, interpret things the way. Sounding like a Criminal Defense Attorney at a moment, dresda is in a position where his
Michael Smerconish tackles the American political and news stories of the week, offering only one kind of talking points his own. Just backed up like four stems, few watch it again, pardon my interruption, we can all see this. He absolutely did. Again, florida tried to pass almost did pass a Warning Shot Statute that would have said, you are allowed to take out the gun. You are each allowed to shoot it to let the person know, im armed,ly use it. Thatt the theory behind it. But the idea with a two, three, four step back in two minutesing up, and a two, three, four second delay, i think that if you are going to exercise your Second Amendment rights and we have them. We will always have them. That you have to do it responsibly. And heres the problem. Someone like dreska who used their weapon unreasonably really affects the rest of us and our ability to properly utilize our Second Amendment rights. He used it improperly, now focus is again on that. Great observation. We will dig deep into that. In the meantime, im asking this, which will have more impact on how long donald trump is the president . Go to my website and cast a ballot. Which will more determine President Trumps longevity in office . A Strong Economy or the mueller and Southern District investigations . To most people, i look like. Most people. But on the inside, i feel chronic, widespread pain. Fibromyalgia may be invisible to others, but my pain is real. Today so why is donald trump so popular with his supporters, despite being so tupd on so many fronts . Simple, its the economy. If elected the u. S. Groat product would hit 4 . A lot of people mocked him. Its the best showing since the Third Quarter of 2014. Remember unemployment remains at a near record low. Joining me now is steve cortez just named as an ad advisor to President Trumps 2020 reelection xavenl he was a Wall Street Trader for 20 years and head strategist of a company that had advises banks and head funds, im giving 30 seconds to take a victory lap. Then i want to play devils
advocate. Go ahead. Sure. We should take a victory lap, by the way. Not just for team trump, but for team america, more importantly. Weve endured a long slow growth. The lions share went to the top of economic heard. Were seeing the opposite, accelerating growth and broadening growth, meaning its going to more people, for example, africanamerican and hispanic hit all time lows. The economic underdogs are doing well, for example, people without a high school degree, by Definition Underdogs the lowest unemployment since 2000. We are seeing fast growth because of tax and regulatory relief. There is an optimism pervasive and real and its tangible. All right. Let me be debbie downer. At least for the purpose of this conversation. John harwood, cnbc, put this in perspective, which will this rank for president s . Fifth under obama, tied for
fifth oundz under george w. , tied for fifth under Herbert Walker bush. This would be the 14th best under rannal reagan. Doesnt sounds so impressive when you put it in that context. Sure, thats a great point. Im be the first to say, we have more work to do. This is just the beginning. I believe. That we cant have one great quarter. We need to have many great quarters and in succession. I believe we will. I think the government is creating the conditions for success in our country and Small Business is responding. Optimism, its an all time high or multidecade high, Consumer Confidence is soaring. I agree, there is more work to do, we have more wood to chop. We wont be satisfied with a single quarter growth. We need many of them. How about this one . Its all about the soybeans, buyers seem to have stocked before tariffs. This is actual lay reaction to trade wars. Right. I think thats an important
america grow again. This was the key issue he was elected among many, the economic anxiety particularly for working class people in this country who havent seen their wages grow and seen expenses grow. Theyve reacted with their vote. Now i think donald trump is starting to deliver. Were not done, not even close, starting to deliver. Steve, thank you. Appreciate you being here. You bet, thanks, michael. Lets see what folks are saying via social media . What do we have . Smerconish why Dun They Real Donald Trump for the success . That was a hit piece that was no hit piece, that was me saying we got great economic news, there are some critiques and let me let the trump spokesperson run through them and respond to them. Go look for bias elsewhere, my friend. So this relates to the Survey Question at smerconish. Com. I hope you are voting. Which will more describe President Trumps longevity in office . Please go vote. Still to come the latest developments on the other half of that question, Michael Cohens claim that donald trump knew in advance about that notorious Trump Tower Meeting with russians. It could mean the president was personally willing to accept russian assistance or cohen is asserting himself. Its another Trump Employee just subpoenaed who really knows the president s secrets, including his tax returns. Who is Michael Weiselberg and what might he ends up revealing. Finally, when does a teacher get in trouble after trying to earn extra main after hours. As he is moonlighting as a nazithemed wrestler. Ill explain. Fish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown
to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Its a hightech revolution in sleep. The new sleep number 360 smart bed. It intelligently senses your movement and automatically adjusts on each side to keep you both comfortable. And snoring . How smart is that . Smarter sleep. To help you lose your dad bod, train for that marathon, and wake up with the patience of a saint. The new sleep number 360 smart bed, from 999. Smarter sleep will change your life. A Blockbuster Report from cnn this week said the president s former lawyer Michael Cohen is claiming the candidate donald trump had advance notice at trump tower with russian nationals. If it can be proven its a game changer. The lawyer Rudy Guiliani said its a game changer and this means cohen would be critiquing to two congressional meetings. His current claims werent mentioned in special reports on the house intel committee. Nevertheless, as is often the case with President Trump, partisans quickly took sides based on instinct and not everyday. My legal experience tells me such binary reviews i dont have look nuance. Im wondering if the truth lice somewhere in between. It is strange credulity of a desire to obtain dirt on Hillary Clinton and viceversa. Such as the nature of a hard fought campaign. Im not holding my breath of a Smoking Gun Evidence of the president s knowledge of this one particular meeting. If it existed, i think wed know by now, instead, this will come down to inference and interpretation. Joining me is michaelikchael is. Where cohen didnt say this, in his congressional appearance, my suspicion is he will be much more vague than prosecutors this week. Look, there is a lot of reasons to be cautious, but there is also a lot of reasons to hear Michael Cohens account. First of youll, the significance of this should not be understated, if the president then candidate was informed of the Trump Tower Meeting, it would clearly bolster any Obstruction Case that Robert Mueller was, is preparing because it would give a clear motive for the president , himself, to shut down the russia investigation. There is plausible reasons to believe the president might have been informed. There is that blocked phone call that donald trump jr. Makes after speaking to a person about the upcoming Trump Tower Meeting. The democrats on the House Intelligence Committee clearly believe that may have been a phone call to his father. There was the rmps that the campaign was going to give a major speech about Hillary Clinton just at the time that the emails setting up the trump
tower meeting was taking place. But, you know, we dont know exactly what Michael Cohen has to say. As youve pointed out, hes testified twice before the house and senate in private. In his Public Statement he said he had no hint of any collusion by President Trump with the russians the house Intelligence Report says all witnesses were asked if trump was aware of the Trump Tower Meeting and denied it. So Michael Cohen may well have to cop to lying to the House Intelligence Committee when he privately testified because, you know, that, it would be a false statement if he didnt disclose this before. So, you know, we got to be cautious. I do have to say, it is a little odd the way were learning about this. Normally, if you wanted to get a
deal with Robert Mueller. You wouldnt go running to the press. You would get a proffer to muellers office saying, heres what we got. And Michael Cohens legal team for whatever reason didnt go that route. What other observation . Is this not going to extend, all these recent developments, however they pan out, this not going to extend the mueller probe, not into the midterm but into the 2020 election . Look, it could, we dont know exactly where Robert Mueller is. There is a lot of reason to believe he is moving forward. We may see more before labor day, there is an assumption he will not want to do anything during the election season. So, i know, there is an expectation that there could be more coming from mueller. But loose, one of the most frustrating things ability all of this is, you know, michael,
yeah, every Major Political scandal for the last half century, whether it be watergate or iran contra or white water resulted in public hearings in which witnesses testified before under oath before the tv cameras so the public can hear or learn them. None of that has happened here, Michael Cohen like everybody else has testified Behind Closed Doors and then each side spins and cherry picks those aspects of testimony that they want the public to learn about. Thats to way for congress to have investigated. You know if if Michael Conwants this out there. Richard burr and mark warner tomorrow or sunday, monday, could subpoena him, have him testify in public this week before the senate Int