And crucially he knows he is not supposed to do what hes doing, not supposed to get involved, admitting at much in a Radio Interview yesterday. You know, the saddest thing is that because im the president of the United States, i am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. Im not supposed to be involved with the fbi. Im not supposed to be doing the kind of things that i would love to be doing. And i am very frustrated by it. I look at whats happening with the Justice Department. Why arent they going after Hillary Clinton with her emails and with her the dossier. If we havent yet heard widespread calls for impeachment, its because this president s disregard for the rule of law for democratic norms, his authoritarian impulses are largely baked in in the countrys perception, even among political insiders. It was just a couple of days ago, for example, that he called the american criminal Justice System a joke and a laughing stock. On top of that, all indications are that the president is already under investigation for Obstruction Of Justice for his firing of former fbi director
enforcement opens an investigation or prosecutes someone, its based on the evidence and not on political ideology. And thats what make the president s comments so dangerous. He believes its okay to use the incredible coerce ive power of the federal government to go after political enemies. Its wrong and its also, by the way, Obstruction Of Justice. The argument on the other side are these are the whalings of a fundamentally impotent individual. That were he actually directly ordering the department of justice to do this, that would be one thing, but hes just kind of whining about it on twitter the way that anyone watching fox news might. And, therefore, its less of a threat and doesnt cross the line. What do you make of that argument . I suppose if this was donald trump, the real estate developer, doing things on twitter, it would be different. But hes the president of the United States. And if he in fact is under investigation, we dont know if he is, but if he is, then he has now either endeavored to influence or directly tried to
influence the investigation because of all these comments hes making, trying to distract or threaten or make Attorney General Sessions do Something Different or the department of justice do Something Different. This is Obstruction Of Justice right out plain for everyone to see. You know, there are two other recent instances of him injecting himself into judicial proceedings. One is the tweet that he had about the alleged murderer who pledged to isis here in new york city should get the death penalty. Lots of worry that that could corrupt that case, make it more difficult for the prosecutors. And just today Bowe Bergdahl, of course, who deserted his post was handed down a sentence in which he will get no time and part of the citation, part of the issue in the trial was that the president had exerted undue command influence by opining on the case. Chris, thats an excellent case. I was a former prosecutor in the
prison. We cant have that happen because democracy depends on knowing that the rule of law is going to be administered fairly. All right, congressman ted lieu, great to have you. Thank you, chris. Joining me now, barbara mcquade, former federal prosecutor. As someone who worked for the department of justice and is familiar with the norms and regulations about the independence of that, what is your reaction to watching the president explicitly call for the department of justice to open up investigations of his political opponents. If it were anyone else it would be shocking but its disappointing to hear these words coming from the president of the United States. I believe that the Career Prosecutors at the Justice Department are professional enough to tune out the noise and continue to focus and do their important work. But i think it is undermines Public Confidence in the legitimacy of the Justice Department and the independence of the Justice Department when you have the president making these kinds of statements. And we should also be clear, he has fired comey. He is essentially dangling jeff
sessions job over him. I mean the defense, which youre saying, and what the congressman said, both of which i take to heart, which is its not having an effect, right, on the other end, hes not pushing and theyre doing his bidding. But theres no guarantee that holds up, is there . No, and i dont know that it matters. I still trust the integrity of the Career Prosecutors to do the right thing regardless of whatever it is the president is saying. But i do think that this becomes additional evidence in any Obstruction Of Justice investigation that Robert Mueller is conducting. Any one of these statements alone may not constitute Obstruction Of Justice, but its going to be the pattern of activity that Robert Mueller looks at when he makes an ultimate decision about whether obstruction occurred. I want to read bob corkers statement. If im not mistaken, he was the lone republican, i think, out with a statement on this today, certainly the lone republican senator. Like me, most americans hope that our Justice System is independent and free of
political interference. President trumps pressuring of the Justice Department and fbi to pursue cases against his adversaries an calling for punishment before trials take place are totally inappropriate and not only undermine our Justice System but erode the American Peoples confidence in our institutions. I would hope everyone who respects the rule of law would speak out about this kind of sglamt unanimously. Early on you could say President Trump didnt get it, hes used to being a Real Estate Executive who says whats on his mind, but again and again he has heard this is not appropriate for a sitting president. And it is also compromising real cases. Weve already seen that it influenced the judges decision in the Bowe Bergdahl case. I worry that it could have an adverse impact on the new terror case that was just filed in new york. Theres a question here also about the obstruction investigation, and i want to go back to something you just said a moment ago, about this could be evidence in that. Theres really a question about how broadly evidence for obstruction could be construed. Only the president can obstruct justice in a particular way that the president can do it, in a way that civilians or other folks cant. But you think these kind of actions and statements could be part of that case were it to be made by the Special Counsel . I do. I dont know that any one of these standing alone would be sufficient to bring a case of Obstruction Of Justice but its enough to attempt to influence the outcome of an investigation. If thats what hes doing, i think that could be part of the p totality of circumstances Robert Mueller looks at, along with firing jim comey. Is that enough for Obstruction Of Justice . Every time he speaks an tweets, he makes the case stronger. Barbara mcquade, thank you. Tom steyer is putting some of his billions into an ad Campaign Calling for the president to be impeached. He now has almost a million and a half signatures. Tom, i guess i knew your
position before what the president has done over the last 24, 36 hours. What is your response to the calls to go after Hillary Clinton in the context of your calls for impeachment . Well, chris, i think this is an example of the disrespect for the rule of law that has characterized both the campaign and this presidency, and it is an example of the lawlessness that we have seen and which is the reason that we feel that it is appropriate now to call for the impeachment of this president. We think this is not i was listening to the previous segment, and i think that to be surprised or shocked or disappointed by this behavior means that you havent been paying attention for the last year and a half. The fact of the matter is this behavior is absolutely unacceptable, but it is absolutely consistent with what weve seen from this president. As president and as a campaigner. Its funny you said that because ive been trying to
think about transporting myself out of the current day and think about another president doing this. Of course its almost inconceivable. If another president in my lifetime had done this, it would be an earthshaking political cataclysm that would precipitate a crisis that would fall like dominos and it would be the only thing anyone talked about. And here its kind of like, well, hes tweeting again. How do you overcome that in the Public Perception . Well, chris, what weve done is weve asked weve tried to provide a venue for the American People to directly raise their voice. Thats why weve called for impeachment, thats why weve given people a chance to sign up on our website, to add their name and their voice. And in fact were over a million and a half, were at A Million Six now, which is way more than we expected, so we know the American People agree with us that this pattern of lawlessness has got to stop. You know, you were running these ads on fox news. I think thats probably where
the president saw him tweeting wacky and totally unhinged tom steyer who has been fighting me and my make America Great again agenda from beginning, never wins elections. Have you ever run for election . Not since school, chris. But fox news subsequent to that refused to fulfill their contract with us, which was to continue to run our ad. They cancelled the contract midway through after the tweet. Yes. So we dont know why, we dont know whether it was a request from the white house, but what we do know is that they are k n censuring the voice of a million and a half americans that they are scared to air. So theyre no longer running it on their air . Correct. In violation of the contract that we have with them. I want to ask you about youre beginning to see signs of the legislative branch to go after Robert Mueller. Politico has this headline about
conservatives introduce a measure demanding muellers resignation. While ted lieu is saying this is Obstruction Of JusticeIn Plain Sight. While the president is pressuring both the courts and the Justice Department, you have republican members of the house trying to go after mueller. What do you make of that . Well, i think that whats going on here is not is politics. And let me say this, its not me calling for the impeachment of this president , its over a million and a half american citizens calling for the impeachment of this president. What the republicans are obviously doing with mueller is to prepare the way for more Obstruction Of Justice because they know that this administration cannot withstand an airing of their behavior. But let me say, that behavior has been taking place In Plain Sight and americans can see it. What were doing is lowering the standards of behavior and saying what was previously as you said completely unacceptable and lawless is now something that is excused as mildly vulgar and
impolite. Its not vulgar and impolite, its lawless. All right, tom steyer, thanks for your time tonight. Thank you. More on the calls for Special CounselRobert Mueller to step down. Paul manaforts trial date is set and what the president said he remembers of the meeting that he attended with George Papadopoulos in two minutes. Lowlevel advisor, he kept turning up. In a September 2016 interview on the subject of russian relations, papadopoulos said trump if elected president will restore the trust. The American Jewish committee used trump Foreign Policy advisor George Papadopoulos as a panelist in its Republican National convention program, sitting alongside, get this, senator bob corker, delivering remarks. Theres papadopoulos on the far left with republican congressman from the House Foreign Affairs committee, who were also on the panel. Apart from personal experience, especially on iran, before i started working for the Trump Campaign i was based in london for the last seven or eight months. During my time in london i had an opportunity to meet with European Energy companies and other commercial enterprises there in france, it isitaly and uk. You can almost see the Thought Bubbles of who is this dude. A british publication wroteGeorge Papadopoulos, one of the business tycoons foreign advisers shall said he had very productive talks with representatives of the Foreign Office in britain. Two days after the inauguration of donald trump, the Jerusalem Post described a meeting between papadopoulos and regional leaders that occurred in washington, clearly referring to papadopoulos as a trump advisor. This is after inauguration. Meanwhile today, in the case of trumps former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, u. S. District judge Amy Berman Jackson proposed a May 7th Trial date. The counts include conspiracy against the United States. Michael isikoff from yahoo news, Natasha Bertran join me now. It seems plausible papadopoulos was not high Raning Bking But W the American Jewish committee is contacted and why do you have that guy there, because the Trump Campaign sent him, seems to mean something. I asked a former Trump Campaign official about this. Hes just a lowlevel volunteer
talking point. And he said, well, reporters should really feel free to push back on that narrative because pretty much everyone on the campaign was a volunteer because trump didnt want to pay anyone. So this whole idea that he was a volunteer, hey, manafort was a volunteer too so he could have had very, very large responsibilities and a prominent role in the campaign and not been paid for it. Michael, what do you make of his role and what were learning about him . Well, look, he clearly got around. And i was a little surprised at how long he stayed me too. On the campaign. We know that in march, you know, trump mentions his name to the Washington Post because he was under pressure to get to come up with Foreign Policy advisers because he didnt have a Foreign Policy team so he hastily they hastily put together these names. Papadopoulos is one, carter page is another. Not especially distinguishedForeign Policywise men or women. But the key here thats significant is lets go back to that march meeting where he proposes this to set up something between trump and putin and he says this in trumps presence. Papadopoulos has cut a deal with mueller. He no doubt has been questioned very closely on how the president responded to that proposal. Weve had accounts that sessions shot it down. Others were skeptical. What did President Trump say when papadopoulos in his presence says, ive been meeting with russians who can set up a meeting between you and president putin. And i think that is really the biggest question that hangs over
the Papadopoulos Case right now. We know we know muellers people have been questioning the people in that room. Sam clovis, who was papadopoulos campaign supervisor, was before the grand jury a week ago and had to resign pull back from his nomination to be at usda this week as a result of these disclosures. But mueller has some answers about what trumps response is, and i think thats very critical. I would just say i think that the March 31st Meeting is extremely important, but i think the key to all of this is look