A newscast reviewing and analyzing top stories of the day as they happen. Levelling at Robert Mueller. Its much more personal than it has been in the past. The president used to sort of question the genesis of the Mueller Investigation, suggested there were a lot of conflicts of interest among his team. Now hes really going after mueller. This is of a piece with a decision that were told will be coming very soon in which the president and his legal team are likely to say and theres always a chance it could be different but were told they are likely to say that there will be no interview with Robert Mueller. The president has got the final say, but theres pretty much unaminomt. There was question that i was going to ask at the Press Conference had i been called on. The two people that were called on did not bring it up. Theres reasons why, a multitude of reasons why the president s attorneys believe that he should not sit down with him. First and foremost, they believe
that Robert Mueller has not made the case that he needs to get information from the president that he can only get from the president , that he doesnt already have through all of these thousands of documents that the white house and the transition has provided to the special counsel. The other thing, of course, shep, all of this news that has been out here for weeks now about the genesis of the Mueller Investigation, the people that were involved. So it looks at this point like theyre going down the road of saying no to Robert Mueller. Theyre still in talks. The talks do not seem to be going anywhere. So i would pretty surprised after hearing what i heard from many sources today, shep, that they would go against that and say yes, he will do a sit down. Looks like the answer at this point is going to be a big no. Shepard so a voluntary sit down is another but a subpoena is a whole other thing. The subpoena is a whole other thing. Robert mueller could seek a subpoena. Ken starr sought a subpoena against president clinton in the
late 90s. And then clinton agreed to an interview in the app was gone. Many dont believe that Robert Mueller would go the subpoena route. Then again, this is washington, shep. Anything can happen. Shepard the president reiterating that hes willing to shut down the government for border wall funding and other matters of immigration. This would be to believe that the president could alter what has been the established course of history. Every time the government is shut down, its republicans that take the brunt of the blame for it. The president is putting forward a case where hes saying look, this is about national security. We need to have immigration reform. We need a border wall built. I need the money to do that. If i dont do it, i will shut down the government and he believes that that is an argument a fight that he can win. Listen here. As far as the border is shepard do we know hes serious about meeting with irans leaders as no preconditions as i remember a previous president saying . Yeah. Dont forget barack obama said that and he would meet with the leader of syria. The president says hes serious about it when it comes to this particular issue. Dont forget, just a few days ago, the president tweeting in all caps that iran would suffer the consequences the likes of which few have ever suffered if they threatened the United States again. Then he holds out this idea for the president of iran to say look, ill meet with you. Id be happy to sit down. Talking is good. Listen here. If we could work something out, thats meaningful, not the waste of paper that the other deal was, i would certainly be willing. No preconditions. If they want to meet, ill meet. So the president is using the north korean model to say nobody
wanted to sit down with kim jongun. I did. Looks like were getting something from it. He also cited russia saying the news about that russian meeting was incorrect. He did make a lot of progress with vladimir putin. The president does believe, shep, that its better to sit down and talk than it is to fire missiles at each other. On that point, he may have a point. Shepard he may. Those arent the only two options. That hes well aware. John, thank you. In addition to his comments on collusion, the president s lawyer, rudy guliani, continued his attacks on the president s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen. Rudy guliani Accused Cohen of doctoring one of the recordings. Rick leventhal is here with more. I had Michael Cohen on the phone. I wish we had a chance to talk about all of these topics. But instead he thanked me and referred me to his lawyer and hung up. But the president says cohen
cant be trusted anymore. This morning on cnn, rudy guliani would have called Benedict Arnold an honest before before finding out hes a traitor. He called Michael Cohen a pathological lawyer. He told Fox And Friends that its cohens lack of credibility. Theres numerous recordings of other people having nothing to do with the trump organization, which will give you an idea of what a scoundrel he was. And rudy guliani said the recordings themselves cant be trusted. If he taped everything else, why didnt he tape this . Hes capable i think of doctoring tapes. Hes not done it. Hard to do it now since we have an expert all over it. Its flat out untrue. The tape hes referring to that we heard was a recorded
conversation with the president and karen mcdougal, a playboy playmate. Rudy guliani said about a dozen of recordings are of any substance and all of them There ExoneratePresident Trump. Shepard well find out. New other response to Michael Cohen . We heard that rudy guliani would waive Attorney Client privilege to release the tapes. The Statement Reads from lanny davis, mr. Guliani waived Attorney Client privilege last week and repeatedly and accurately as proven by the time forfeited all confidentiality. We also heard from michael avenatti, the attorney for Stormy Daniels who got a 130,000 payment from cohen and signed a Nondisclosure Agreement about her affair with trump. Avenatti posting on twitter at
rudy guliani, are you denying there were other hush payment . Asking for some friends. Buckle up, buttercup. The president s stupidity and loyalty is shepard you better buckle up, buttercup . Thats what he said. Reading his words. Shepard i wasnt sure. You better buckle up buttercup. That got a laugh from the stage crew that rarely paying attention. That was to the president. Shepard i get it. Two things happening. Only two things . Shepard two important ones. A Mueller Investigation. Its a legal investigation and there are no leaks. And then theres a political thing happening. Thats a zoo. It is. Shepard i like the zoo. I wish i didnt spend all my time at the zoo. We all do, safe to say . Love, love. Thanks, rick. Youre welcome. Shepard ahead, more on the latest attacks on the president s former lawyer and Robert Mueller. Well talk about the trump teams strategy. Lions and tigers and bears. Oh, my so you have, your headphones, chair,
the latest comments on the president s lawyer on the Russian Investigation. Lets bring there chad day for the a. P. None of this chatter makes any matter in all matters mueller. But since theyre saying its and leading us down this road, today we got well talk to iran. The president said without preconditions, rouhani he would meet with, the ayatollah ho holemani would have to sign off on it. With the meeting with iran, could be shepard the suggestion of such. Obama suggested the same. Right. The suggestion is not unprecedented. President obama shared a phone call with president rouhani in 2013. What is interesting about this is trump saying that the meeting would come with no preconditions. As you know, this administration has been tape a very hard
line on iran. President tearing up the jcpoa and new sanctions are coming in next week. So you know, its an interesting view in trump diplomacy at this point where he kind of is harkening back to how he approached the north korea meeting as well. Shepard you wonder if he found out obama did the same thing he will take the same stance. Time will tell. Whats up at stake for the Paul Manafort trial . What is at stake, Paul Manafort is facing a serious amount of time in jail if he was convicted. On a larger ramification for this, this is all coming none of this is happening in a vacuum. Mueller is still continuing his investigation in other parts of Russian Election interference. As we have seen today, the president ratcheted up his
attacks on mueller trying to continue to undermine his witch hunt or hoax. So what its setting up to be, well be having a week or two or three weeks for News Coverage that the president will be seeing where mueller and a trial is going on, so its going to be at t at the forefront of his mind. Theres going to be a lot of attention on mueller. Shepard how does this trial fit into the Bigger PictureMueller Investigation . Right, this trial is actually what its handling is tax evasion and Bank Fraud Charges against Paul Manafort. The way it fits in. Manafort is facing two trials. One, this trial is more of a financial trail and one in september where he will face charges of being an unregistered
agent for the ukrainian interests. Neither of these cases have anything to do or any charges that are directly connected to Russian Election interference, which is something that manaforts team has seized on. What it fits in the larger perspective of, theres going to be some discussion of the campaign. Prosecutors have said there was a bank loan that was extended to Paul Manafort in which the banker actual live was extended a fraudulent loan to Paul Manafort where he was promised a job on the campaign and later floated the idea of a possible job in the administration. So as this fits into the larger context, well see as the evidence comes out of trial. But what we do know is that this is a serious trial nor Paul Manafort. Shepard chad day for the a. P. Thank you. Thank you. Shepard president Trumps Supreme Court nominee is meeting with a democrat for the first time. What were learning about that
meeting as a key republican announces which way he plans to vote. Thats next. Hey there people eligible for medicare. Gimme one minute. And ill tell you some important things to know about medicare. First, it doesnt pay for everything. Say this pizza is your part b medical expenses. This much about 80 medicare will pay for. Whats left is on you. Thats where an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan,
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provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Shepard president Trumps Supreme Court pick, judge Brett Kavanaugh meeting with a democratic lawmaker for the First Time Since the president announced his nomination. Senator joe manchin of West Virginia was one of three that confirmed neil gorsuch. Now hes meeting with judge kavanaugh. Chuck schumer promising to fight kavanaughs confirmation. Hes demanding to see documents from kavanaughs past work in the bush white house. Many other democrats following his lead. Earlier this month, joe manchin
said that schumer could kiss his, you know, if he tried to pressure him. Our chief Congressional Correspondent mike emanuel is live on capitol hill. Hi, mike. This is judge kavanaughs 39th meeting with a senator according to senate sources. First with a democrat. We saw judge kavanaugh arrive with joe manchin within the past hour or so. Theres no doubt that judge kavanaugh would love some democrat support. Manchin is seen as a possibility. Manchin has held meters with constituents to get their take on the Supreme Court nominee to make sure he has their input. Meanwhile, Senate Democratic leadership continues to push for more documentation, particularly from when kavanaugh worked in the bush white house. Namely in these documents, if we get them, there may be bomb shells and smoking guns and other revealing evidence that goes to his views on these critical issues. Not just president ial power but
roe v. Wade. Democrats say there could be critical information there in his past employment history. Some republicans suggest that could be a stall tactic, shep. Shepard weve been waiting to hear from rand paul on this matter. You knew what was going to happen. Theres a pattern here. Hes true to pattern. Senator rand paul says hes a yes on judge kavanaughs con fir makes. He said he was evaluating the nomination and had some concerns about privacy issues. He issued a Statement Saying that he was reassured that judge kavanaugh would execute the law faithfully in a Statement Saying after meeting judge kavanaugh and reviewing his record, i have decided to support his nomination. My conversation with judge kavanaugh reinforces my belief that he will evaluate cases before the Supreme Court from a text youll and originalist point of view. I believe he will carefully adhere to the contusion and protect individual liberties
seriously. Another keep republican sounds very upbeat. As youll see in the poll numbers in these states that are red states where you have a democratic senator. Hes very popular. People want to see him confirmed. In the end, he will do well. If rand paul was a no, this could have fallen apart. Republicans think its a matter of time. Shepard thanks, mike emanuel. The first trial in the special investigation of russian meddling will start today. In this case, Paul Manafort is facing charges including tax evasion and bank fraud. Prosecutors accused manafort of making 60 million and failing to report a significant portion on his tax returns. Manafort has denied all of the charges against him. Hes the only american charged in the Russian Investigation who
has not cut a deal to cooperate with prosecutors. This is the first Courtroom Test for Robert Mueller and his team. Lets bring in caroline, federal and white collar criminal defense lawyer. Good to see you. You too. As a reminder of what it was that was happening here, the russian government was propping up victor janakovich, the sponsor in the ukraine and wanted you cane to be more with russia and nato at a time when ukrainians were moving towards the west. It was Paul Manafort that was working for the russian propup and Didnt Report Tens Of Millions of dollars and didnt report that he was working for the Ukrainian Government sort of but really working for the russians in support of the ukraine. Thats right. Theres two trials. Hes indicted in two different districts. So the failing to register as a Foreign Agent of the ukrainian
government, that trial is next. This trial has only to do with tax fraud and banking fraud. Ones janakovich fled the ukraine, the money dried up. Shepard thats the point when he went to work for donald trump. When the russian money dried up and there was no more job for victor janakovich, the guy supporting him because the guy is supporting him, whoops, hes heading to russia, when that money ran out, he started working for future President Trump. Thats right. He had been making millions on millions of dollars and the allegation of which is that he funneled those assets to