Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, breaking news and international stories. Trump Campaign Manager facing off against the Russia Investigation special counsel robert mueller. You cannot understate just how big this is, no matter which way it goes. On one hand, if, for example, mr. Manafort is found guilty, that makes it a real problem for the president of the United States to continue to call this a witch hunt. Now, what about this case . We have 18 charges in the indictment, Something Like three dozen witnesses. The former partner of Paul Manafort, rick gates, could testify. The trial could last up to three weeks. At the end of the day, though, a big deal for Paul Manafort himself, who was a huge power broker in washington, d. C. He has another trial scheduled later this year, wolf. And theyre accusing him of taking about 60 million from prorussian politicians in
Wolf Blitzer looks at politics, breaking news and international stories. On the job. Now that seems to have changed, and we got a little hint of that yesterday when we were in the oval office as the president was swearing in the new secretary of veterans affairs. He gave john kelly a shoutout for it being his one year on the job as Chief Of Staff. John kelly smiled and saluted the president in return. But this is quite surprising given that john kelly seemed to be on the Chopping Block in recent weeks here, wolf. He had been telling aides that he believed that this is a way he could rehabilitate his image in the west wing, something he thinks has been badly changed because of the fallout from that rob porter scandal, the Staff Secretary who was accused of Domestic Abuse of his exwife. John kelly took the brunt of the fall for that because he was told or we were told by sources he actually had known of the allegations against porter for months before they surfaced, yet allowed him to keep working in the west wing here anyway, wolf. So john kelly seems to be doing a little bit of rehab here, believing he can change his image here in the west wing if
he stays on for a little longer, which he does seem to have agreed to do. The caveat being white house officials do not sign contracts. It is not guaranteed he will be here through 2020, through the reelection campaign. But of course, right now that seems to be what President Trump would like. At least for now, key words. A vote of confidence for john kelly. Kaitlan collins, thanks very much. Lets bring in former Department Of Justice prosecutor Joseph Morino and our gloria borger. What do you think . Its really surprising since we have known through our reporting that the president s been calling around to people asking for potential replacements. It seems to me, and julie knows more about this than i do, that this is a story the white house wanted out there. Maybe its a way for kelly to rehabilitate himself because there are plenty of stories about how he wasnt really in
charge, that jared and ivanka could walk into the president s office any time they wanted, and he had tried to put a stop to that. Obviously the Rob Porter Case was a problem for him. We all watched his face during helsinki. He didnt seem to be smiling a lot. So it seems to me theyre putting this story out so that as long as kelly decides to stay, the message is im in charge here, the president likes me, and if and when i decide to leave, it will be my decision and nobody elses. Now, maybe im being cynical about this. Maybe he will stay through 2020. But that seems a little far fetched to me. What do you think . I think gloria is absolutely right. I think the most interesting thing about this story is that we know about it, right, which i think is clearly by design. You know, as kaitlan reported, there have been whispers, rumors for many, many weeks and months now that john kelly was on his way out the door, that he doesnt actually have much of a role anymore when it comes to the president and whats actually going on in this white house. Those have certainly picked up
in recent weeks. The on boarding of bill shine in a Big Communications role. Z i do think that theres an aspect to this which is about john kelly wanting to be able to say publicly that im here until im not here anymore. Im in charge of what im in charge of. Its not totally clear. Many people ive talked to in the west wing dont know exactly what that is. But he has been sidelined to a great degree. This may be President Trump feeling like he can keep him around and still do everything he wants to do. They really wanted this story out, the white house. The Wall Street Journal broke it. Within a nanosecond, every other News Organization got confirmation from senior officials at the white house. Seems like youve covered the white house. Once that happens, you know they want that story out for whatever reason. Lets talk about manafort for a moment. Joseph, youve argued before this federal judge in alexandria, virginia. The rocket docket. Theyre moving quickly over
there, arent they . Absolutely, wolf. Its not only the rocket docket, but judge ellis is particularly known to have minimal patience for any kind of theatrics. Hes a by the book, get to the point kind of judge. Hes a prosecutors judge in the form of he will not tolerate the sort of drama that sometimes defense counsels like to bring to the table. We do our thing when were on the defense side. So not only is it a fast jurisdiction, but this judge will move things along. I would not be surprised if Opening Statements are not beginning at 9 00 tomorrow morning. Very, very quickly indeed. 16 jurors, 4 alternates. It means a lot what happens in alexandria, virginia. Absolutely crucial for the mueller probe. Its not because the trial itself is going to be about the russia probe because it really isnt. But this is key. If muellers team fails to get a conviction on manafort, the wind will be at the back of those who
are screaming witch hunt, namely the president of the United States. If they get a conviction on manafort, it will be very important to them as they go forward. And doernt forget, were probay going to hear from somebody like rick gates, manaforts former business partner, who has pled to mueller. So that will be interesting to hear for all of us. Were going to get some kind of insight about how deeply the Mueller Investigation has really looked into the private Business Dealings of people in the Trump Administration. That could scare some people. But very, very key for mueller, they need to win this one. They certainly do. It comes a the a time when the president is now echoing his private attorney rudy giuliani, tweeting all of a sudden, you know what, there was no collusion, but collusion isnt even a crime. Right. Its an amazing sort of moving of the goalposts, even for this president , who likes to move the goalposts. Hes no longer saying that its his argument that nobody in his campaign ever had contact with
thats been tested under scenarios like this. It would be a stretch in any case. It doesnt mean it cant work. It certainly has teeth, but i could see thats the next pivot to where the strategy is going. But Isnt Conspiracy To Defraud the United States government a crime as opposed to a technicality, which is effectively what collusion is . It is certainly a crime, absolutely. Its a serious crime. Its punishable with serious consequences. But i could certainly see if your audience isnt a jury in a District Court but the american people, then thats the message. Its like, you know, look, it may have been the trump tower meeting may have been an attempt at something, but it didnt bear any fruit, so lets not worry about it. It didnt amount to anything. If this biased prosecutor with his 13 angry democrats on his team bring charges, well, its a technicality, dont worry about it. So i could see the message going in that direction. There is also this whole question of wittingly or unwittingly. If they have information that the russians were conspireing to defraud the United States government but are somehow able
to argue that those involved, if there were any, in the Trump Campaign didnt know what they were doing, thats clearly going to be a line of defense theyre going to try to use, at least try to argue before an actual jury, if not in the jury of Public Opinion if this were to go to some congressional procedure. Intent is always something the prosecutors look very closely at. Guys, thank you very much. Dont go too far. We have more to discuss. The president reportedly considering another tax cut, this one just for largely the richest americans. Why he bypassed congress to do it. Plus, theyre among the biggest donors for conservatives, but today the president just went to war, really, with the Koch Brothers, calling them a total joke. Youll hear why. And just hours from now, americans will be able to buy plans for 3d guns. The president says hes concerned as lawmakers sound the alarm. We have new details and what these guns can do. Liberty mutual saved us almost 800 when we switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter
instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to liberty mutual, you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. A book that youre ready to share with the world . Get published now, call for your free publisher kit today the Trump Administration could be setting itself up for a future court battle. The New York Times now reporting that the administration is considering bypassing congress to grant a 100 billion tax cut almost exclusively to the very wealthy. Joining us now, the man who broke the story, tax and economics reporter for the New York Times. Tell us, jim, how this would work. Sure. The Treasury Department would issue a rule, wolf. It would change the way that the government considers the word cost when it comes up with Capital Gains taxation rates. So essentially what would happen is they would make it so that Capital Gains are now indexed to inflation, which means the price you paid for a stock or a home a
long time ago would be calculated in todays dollars, not on the price that you paid for it in terms of how much tax you would owe on that when you sell it. I know thats wonky, but it works out to a big cut to really the top 0. 1 of americans who pay most of our Capital Gains taxes. That would be a huge bonanza for them. I understand its something that former president george h. W. Bush considered back in 1992 before leaving office. He didnt follow through on it. Why . Well, his Treasury Department concluded that it was not within the governments power to do this. Subsequent president s have looked at this and concluded the same. Whats happened now is the conservative activists have pointed to some new legal writings from conservatives saying no, actually, the Treasury Department does have this authority. Theyre urging the Trump Administration to reconsider what has been a pretty uniform declaration from president s on down the line. Jim tankersley, thank you very much. Lets discuss this more. Gloria and julie are still with us. It would be a big deal for the very, very wealthy if they didnt have to worry about paying all those Capital Gains taxes. It would be, but not so fast. First of all, i think this would wind up in court immediately. The democrats would jump on it and talk about, you know, this is a tax cut for the wealthy because Capital Gains taxes are largely paid by high earners. I think its a test of Executive Power. I remember im old enough to remember when the democrats were screaming about Barack Obamas imperial presidency because of his Executive Action on dreamers. Well, this is beyond that. Tax legislation originates in the house of representatives. So i think this would just wind up in court and theyd be asking for that. What do you think . It isnt anything new for the administration to be figuring out what they can do with their Executive Power when it comes to the tax code. We know how hard it is to pass legislation on capitol hill. Even the obama administration
did consider using Executive Action to actually cut down on the use of tax loopholes, these corporate inversions, for instance and some of the Tax Methods Corporations would use to cut down on their tax bills. Its always very controversial. Both sides do it. I think the issue with this particular move would be the administrati administrations argument is that President Trump is a populist. Everything hes doing, it may look like on paper its for the rich, but it accrues to the advantage of the middle class, folks who need jobs and higher wages. Theres no way of making that argument when it comes to this. Its clearly, as my colleagues reported, twothirds of the benefit of this goes to the top 0. 1 . Clearly a tax cut for the wealthy. It would be sold and debated in a political realm as such. By the way, the president s supporters, for example, in iowa, farmers, are complaining because theyre being hurt. So, you know, politically, as julie was saying, this is not a
winwin for him. It might be a win for his business. It might be a win for him personally. We dont know because we havent looked at his taxes. But for most of his supporters, i dont think so. The very, very wealthy supporters, it would be a nice little bonanza. Lets talk about the Koch Brothers for a moment. All of a sudden the president is going to war with the Koch Brothers, who have been among the most ardent supporters of republicans over the years. The president tweeting this morning the Koch Brothers are total jokes, their network is highly overrated. He says, these are two nice guys with bad ideas. How risky is it to all of a sudden go to war with the Koch Brothers who have provided so much money to various conservative think tanks and influential organizations . Look, theyve never been trump fans. They disagree with him on almost every piece of economic policy, especially tariffs, for example. They made the case that were going to support candidates,
either democrat or republican, who support us. This is a big rift in the republican party. They were so dependable for republicans. Theyre not trump fans, period. I think the president just punched back. I hesitate to ever try to guess what is behind some of his tweets, but if he were to calculate this, youre not going to stop the Koch Brothers from weighing in, in a big way on the republican side. Theyre going to continue to do that no matter whether the president insults them or not. This is kind of a free shot for him. Theyre the republican establishment. Theyre for, you know, free trade. Theyre not for the tariffs. They think that its a trade war that hes sparked by engaging in this titfortat on trade. There also have been in the past support of proimmigration policies, which obviously is very much at odds with what President Trump has been saying. There are these differences, and he wont hesitate to point them out, knowing theyll still be there for the vast majority of republicans in the midterm. And theyre also for prison reform, which is something Jared Kushner has been working on. Theyve worked with democrats on prison reform. Jeff sessions is not their biggest supporter on that, but Jared Kushner is. The Koch Brothers are kind of theyre hard to pigeon hole sometimes. Trump is a little easier. All the sudden, julie, were hearing between now and midterms in november, were going to see the president doing all these politic political rallies out there, going state to state, district to district. Tonight hes in florida, in tampa at a huge rally. And pennsylvania later this week. Hes clearly chomping at the bit. We heard earlier in the year he was going to try to confine his campaigning to deep red states where there was potentially a vulnerable democrat where he had won big and could really boost the Republican Base and try to damage the democrat and help republicans keep control of the
senate that way. Now it seems like he did this interview with sean hannity on friday on the radio, saying he wants to travel six to seven days a week when it gets to be 60 days out. I doubt were going to see that extensive of a campaign. Clearly the president wants to be out there, wants to be in these rallies, sort of throwing out that red meat for the base. He loves those political rallies. Well cover them, of course, as we always do. Guys, thank you very, very much.