A news show featuring the top headlines of the day from pop culture to politics, which are discussed by a rotating panel of four women and one man. A stickler for a speedy trial that he often snaps at the mueller team if he thinks they are dragging things out. The mueller team complained about the judge with emotion, protesting a comment that he made yesterday, where he urged the special counsels lawyers not to focus so much on loans that Paul Manafort was denied, he wanted them to focus on loans that he got. The mueller team didnt think it was fair, they wrote in the motion, the courts suggestion that the government was unnecessarily spending time on a loan that manafort did not receive undermines the wellestablished law on conspiracy, undercuts the charge in count 28, and is likely to confuse and mislead the jury. The mueller team wants the judge to do the same thing yesterday, explain that he may have made a mistake to the jury. But they wanted to it happen this morning. And it didnt. All thats happened today, is the judge warned everybody in court not to peek at whats on counsels table then brought the jury, in reminded them they arent supposed to talk to
anybody about the trial, and supposed to keep an open mind about the case in its wrapped up and receive Jury Instructions and then a lunch break. Its notable when the judge announced this long recess by far the longest recess of the trial, he exited the bench and walked toward the jury room when he normally walks right into his chambers. But this delay ordered by the judge does jeopardize something that the mueller team has assured the judge they were going to try to do, wrap up their case today. They still have four or five more with its that is normally a full days worth of trial. And they lost the entire morning, wiped out. Still dont know why. Melissa interesting. Well, come back when you know why. Peter doocy, thank you. I will bring it out to the couch, tom dupree, this is your specialty, whats your take on Whats Going On . Tom the delay this morning, its intriguing. Trials do get delayed but in this case particularly this is a judge who has the rocket docket,
likes to move it forward past fast its high lie unusual. Could be relatively minor, working out the specifics of a witnesses testimony. Or it could be something significant, the prosecutors may have cut a deal with mueller. My sense is that whatever it is we are going to know this afternoon if theres game change in the works. This judge told the prosecution they need move ahead. The prosecution was ready to wrap up today and would get to the defense side of the case. Melissa how do you think theyre doing, what do you think is ahead on points . Tom its gone up and down. I will tell you this, i think the prosecutors have been very frustrated with the way the judge has been letting them try the case. As weve seen, hes directed them to move along quickly, hes at times reprimanded them in front of the jury, so far they had to file a motion saying you need to clear the air, you may have given the jury the misimpression that we were violating your rules. Now that said, i do think that the prosecutors introduced powerful testimony with gates. This may come down to whether or not the jury wants to take gates
at his word that, he and manafort engaged in illegal conduct or gates is a skal i wag and doesnt deserve to be believed. Melissa maybe it was a mistake to bring gates out. They said they could make a case without him, they didnt need him. If it comes down to whether or not they believe him, when hes lied about a lot of stuff, seems like in the past katie were not going to know if it came down to rick gates testimony. The jury likely isnt going to talk about what made their decision, certainly all of the jurors arent going to talk about why they made decisions and why they did not. Im interested to see how long the Jury Deliberation takes once the trial is over. Thats usually an indication whether they go with guilty or not guilty or a hung jury. The longer it takes for them to deliberate, the more doubt there is, for the prosecution they have to convince 12 people that its beyond a reasonable doubt that manafort is guilty. And manafort only has to convince one. It will be interesting to see
how long it takes. Melissa harris . Harris i wanted to press in with you onning some, tom, and it has to do with the believebilt and credibility of rick gates. Dont normally criminal, juries like when Criminals Rat on each other, right . [laughing] that gives them a little bit of street cred from what ive read and experienced. What comes out of this trial, that investigator with the russian probe might be looking at bob mueller, what do you see . They cant talk about it during the trial, its not appropriate to bring it up. But you know mueller is watching. Tom great question. From my perspective this the first and most public test of mueller. And if this Trial Results in an acquitable, i think you will hear a vastly increased drum beat saying that this is a witch hunt, look at this, trumpedup prosecution, didnt go anywhere, that sort of thing. Harris no pun intended. Tom no pun intended. It is a public test for mueller. We havent seen a lot of allegations really any aelss in
the manafort trial that directly link to the heart of what mueller is looking for. Harris the judge wouldnt have allowed to us know about it anyway. Tom absolutely. Mueller has been cautious and his prosecutors say dont mention this, dont put it on the public record, it might jeopardize the investigation. I dont think theres a direct connection. But what happens with manafort is really going to shape the view of mueller and his investigation in the minds of the American People. Harris lisa . Lisa if theres no direct connection and none of these charges have to do with russian interference or collusion, i dont really care about this to be honest. Paul manafort clearly has done some bad things, if he goes to jail its probably well deserved. But i dont really care. My question, is this a good use of muellers time and resources and taxpayer resources . Tom well, that is a fair question. And whats interesting, is mueller kept this in his own shop. In other cases where lisa why do you think that
going to fight this a lot of people didnt believe him. They said look at the jail time youre facing, why roll the goo dice on this. Why do you think that is, why do you think manafort has chosen to fight this . Tom one possibility is he believes hes innocent. Is manafort going to flip on the president . In order to flip on the president you have to have information to use against the president. This could be simple in the sense that bob mueller saw him in his opinion breaking a number of federal crimes, a number of felonies and they didnt believe they could let it go, it has nothing to do with russian collusion. Harris new developments on the steele dossier, which was purported to contain dirt on President Trump. And was partly funded by the clinton campaign. The hill reports that House Judiciary CommitteeBob Goodlatte is readying subpoenas to those connected and could ish
oh them as issue them as early as today. Always happens on a friday, the docudump. As part of the investigation with the House Oversight committee into the fbi and doj Decision Making during the 2016 president ial elections. Sources say goodlatte is set to Slap Subpoenas on Justice Department official bruce orr, his wife, nellie orr and fusion gps cofounder glen simpson were together working at that company among others. Oversight chair trey gowdy says Congress Patience has been wearing thin in the search for the truth. Watch much. Chairman goodlatte is a patient man but we have run out of patience. I talked to him yesterday at length. They need to set this for a date certain or there will be a subpoena issued, the speaker will back it up, goodlatte will back it up, the house will back it up. No reason not to make him available for a deposition or transcribed interview. Harris can we, tom, talk about the basis of the antitrump dossier. People hear us toss around fisa, and break it down. Tom the issue here is the fuse that d. O. J. Put the dossier to. In other words we have begun to see that d. O. J. Had the dossier and they used it in some way, shape, or form to get Surveillance Warrants authorized. And the question is, did the judges who approved those warrants, were they made aware of the origins of this dossier. I think one thing thats interesting here in the new development about the subpoenas is from my perspective one of the most imtrying aspects is the rule of bruce orr, the d. O. J. Official centrally involved in a lot of this. When i was at the Justice Department any time i saw something that touched partisan political that, sort of thing, red flags went up. When you are in a Law Enforcement mode you need to be scrupulously nonpartisan. Any time you see Something Like that, particularly with a personal connection to some of
the players, you have to be so cautious either recuse yourself or take steps to insulate yourself against the accusations. Harris can we talk about those familial ties. Although it wasnt familial, it was a love affair at fbi between the two agents sending the oon ty trump texts, they had grand scheme to keep the president out of the white house. In this case they did have, they were married. Bruce and nellie orr. You think somebody with that capacity and legal mind would know better. Tom that is surprising to me, too. The people in washington, you have two career couples, people doing things, i never would say you have to have a per se bar on anything your spouse is involved in. Harris why wouldnt you say that . Corporations have those types of things. Tom you see judges all the time, they might be married to some one whos a lawyer, could their interests affect that. If its something they worked on directly you have to step aside. Thats why in this case i would say if i were in bruce orrs shoes, were still getting the
facts, but in this case his connection was so close that he should have stepped aside. Katie they did on it purpose. Not that they thought there was a conflict, they were using the power of justice, the fbi, combined it with fusion gps, nellie ore was required to go against President Trump. They werent thinking about the conflict, they were thinking about it as a way to go after a future potential president of the united states. So there are Big Questions about how far fusion gps is, tentacles go into the democratic party. Christopher steele was in touch with bruce orr even after he was eliminated from his position at d. O. J. Harris and i believe after Christopher Steele was told no longer to work with them katie they still in contact, Judicial Watch sued to get that communication between all of them to figure out was the Justice Department being used as a political weapon against a campaign. Up until now, all of the harris what is the accountability. I feel like we race on chariot like ben hur style and theyre like twinkies on the snack tray when we get there. [laughing] lisa we havent seen much accountability, period, for people like Andrew Mccabe and beyond. I think theres also been new questions, and byron york did a lot of great reporting on this, about steeles connection to a putinconnected russian oligarch. At the same time he was Digging Up Dirt OnPresident Trump then candidate trump. That raises questions in and of itself. Bruce orr was an intermediary between steele and the fbi after steele was fired for leaking to the press which he shouldnt have done in the first place. And steeles credibility should be questioned, period, he even in Court Filings in london basically couldnt back up some
of the information in the dossier. We know the fbi couldnt either. Yet they still used it in some fashion to obtain a fisa warrant. All of this is concerning. Harris me lis, a i dont know if we would get this answer, but would there have been any sort of clearance that Christopher Steele would have been given . Melissa i dont think so, hes a foreigner. Harris what it looks like is using your spouse at a private group in order to do the dirty work of the fbi and the d. O. J. That you dont want to get your hands dirty doing. Melissa One Step Removed and you have them create this dossier. Maybe thats not the case. It certainly looks like that. Thats why they need to stand up to questioning. Thats why it has to be trance part, thats why the American People need to hear from them. If thats the case its terrifying for americans. Lisa its nice that congress is trying to hold people accountable. We have seen Subpoena Threats for two years, even if they issue the subpoenas the justice
department doesnt dplie. Katie Bob Goodlatte said about a month ago, that peter strzok would be called back for a Contempt Hearing and he never was. That people are very tired of this ginning up, and no enforcement of the subpoenas when congress has the power to enforce them. Lisa when are we going to get actual answers, and peter strzok hasnt been held accountable. For viewers at home, they have to be completely frustrated by this, there continues to be new information, never any resource, never any sort of punishment, and its got to be utterly frustrating. Harris i wonder if theyre concentrating on things like paying their bills. Lisa probably. Harris healthcare and those other issues. Well follow the facts as they pop. Democratic socialist and congressional candidate Alexandria Cortez has rejected an offer to debate the issues with Conservative Commentator ben shapiro and set off a social Media Firestorm in the process. I was covered. It was awful. But i didnt give up. I kept fighting. I got clear skin with cosentyx. 3 years and counting. Clear skin can last. See if cosentyx could make a difference for you. Cosentyx is proven to help people with moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis find clear skin that can last. Dont use if youre allergic to cosentyx. Before starting cosentyx, you should be checked for tuberculosis. An increased risk of infections and lowered ability to fight them may occur. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms. Or if you have received a vaccine or plan to. If you have inflammatory bowel disease, tell your doctor if symptoms develop or worsen. Serious allergic reactions may occur. See me now. Im still clear. How sexy are these elbows . Get clear skin that can last. Ask your dermatologist about cosentyx. Brady in deflate gate, and the cuff links you are wearing new england patriot cuff links. You are prepared for this. Tom i wear my loyalties on my sleeve. Lisa obviously, wear it proud n all seriousness, you know about the Inner Workings of the nfl, the nfl is trying to reach an agreement with the Players Association. Can you break that down for us and how that works . Tom absolutely. What we are seeing is theyre really picking up where they left off the end of last season, theres no resolution to how to handle the situation. The league has said its not going to impose for the time being any punishment on the players for protesting during the anthem while they try to negotiate a resolution with the Players Association. Which of course is a union that speaks on bae half of and represents the players. I have to say, as not as a lawyer but as a fan i hope that they can resolve this issue. Honestly, the one thing or one of the things i love about the
nfl, it was a politicsfree zone. Turn on the game on sunday, watch, it doesnt matter democrat or republican, we can cheer for our favorite teams. Im hopeful, optimistic theyll find something that satisfies the owners and the players and we can get back to playing ball. Lisa seems like there are no politicsfree zones in the country any more. Even the dog park, two ladies were mean to me. Harris aw you and your dog are cute. What is wrong with the world. Lisa do you see any agreement taking place between the nfl and the Players Association . Katie it seems like the guys who want to kneel with disrespect dont understand why its disrespectful. If you are negotiating on behalf of the Players Association, what would your argument be . People are confused about what the difference is, with the teams, the rules, what the coaches can enforce and the players being upset about the idea. Harris good question. Katie the rules were implemented without any negotiation. As some one who has been an attorney in the nfl sphere, what would you argue on behalf of the players . Tom the first thing is try to canvas the mayors to find out what canvas the players to find a resolution that would accommodate everyone, players that want to protestnd players that are proud to stand during the anthem. One thing that gets lost in the shuffle the players are diverse. Yes, there are some who protest, yes some dont come out to the anthem, some raise their fists but many stand proudly during the anthem. Katie and others should not be protesting as well they believe. Tom right, and that makes this particularly complex, the players do not all necessarily have the exact same view on this. And then of course you see the president , who i think views this probably correctly as a winning political issue, fanning the flames when this comes out. And puts the issue back in the spotlight. Lisa its not just about the players, theres the owners. The owners are upset theyre worried about th