Constitutional crisis. The president is almost selfimpeaching. I was a businessman, very successful. The trump ghost writer there for all the massive losses joins me live. Then the growing assault on womens rights in states across america. Excuse me you are recognized. I dont care what the chair is about. The cofounder of facebook is calling for it to be broken up. Im angry at mark and a lot of the leadership. Chris hughes joins me now. I think he has too much power. I dont know if we are going to be friends after this. All in starts right now. Good evening from chicago im chris hayes. A day after Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell declared the russia investigation was case closed on the floor of the senate, republican senator richard burr, the chair of the Senate Intelligence committee issued a subpoena for the president s oldest son, don, jr. This comes amid the epic showdown that nancy pelosi described as a constitutional crisis. The Trump White House is essentially telling congress they are entitled to nothing. Keep in mind as it continues to be true, they have Given Congress no documents. Zero. They are invoking executive privilege. The house judiciary recommended to hold the attorney general in contempt and the saving grace of the white house in all of this is that republican members of congress have 100 fallen in line. Now there is a break in the ranks and they are furious about it. Senators rushed to show their own loyalty tow donald trump and the kentucky senator, donald trump, and rand paul tweeted apparently the chair didnt get the memo from the majority leader that this case was closed. The texas senator ted cruz who called donald trump a sniffling coward, serial phi landerer and pathological liar, the Mueller Report found no cocollusion. Its time to move on and focus on issues Americans Care about. Bold. We dont know what the subpoena is for. We do know, however, that donald trump, jr. Has been slippery with the truth. A little example, here he is in 2016 responding to clinton camp claiming that russia was interfering to help donald trump win. Keep in mind this is just a month after donald trump, jr. Personally got an email in whiching him the russian government was helping his dad and met with russians at trump tower to further their aid. It just goes to show you their moral compass. They will say anything to win this. This is time and time again, lie after lie. His house cat at home said this is whats happening. Its disgusting and so phony. Disgusting, lie after lie, they will say anything to win. Or that time in march of 2017 when he told the New York Times and i quote, did i meet with people who were russian . Im sure, im sure i did. None that were set up. None that i can think of at the moment and none that i was representing the campaign in any way, shape, or form. None of that is true. There is evidence he didnt tell the truth to the Intelligence Committee either which appears to be what they are after. Mark warner implied as much in an interview with Kelly Odonnell this afternoon. I would point out when we had the witnesses in, we reserve the right to bring back witnesses if there were inconsistencies. Many of the witnesses we brought back and members of the trump family have willingly come back. Some of the representations made by trump, jr. s lawyers or allies, i dont think fully fit the facts. Richard blumenthal who sits on the Judiciary Committee was more vocal with his frustration. He truly misled the Judiciary Committee. Now he needs to be held accountable. Those answers about the moscowtrump tower meeting, the meeting with russian agents. What happens if he doesnt comply . He ought to be held in contempt and no question with donald trump, jr. About any privilege to avoid this kind of requesting. If he fails to answer, he ought to be put in jail. Democrat from connecticut joins me now. He attended the senate Judiciary Committees interview in 2017. If he wont come, he should be put in jail. What did he mean . He ought to be treated the same as any other witness who refuses to obey a lawful court order. Thats the last stage in a process that needs to begin right now. Remember, chris. This subpoena has to be enforced. If he refuses to come before the Intelligence Committee, he will be held in contempt and that contempt citation needs to be voted on not only by the committee, but the full senatement my republican colleagues are now going to be tested. The republican chairman, richard burr is doing his job because there is no case closed on russian attacks on our democracy. We need to know the facts. I want to make this argument and hear your response and the argument goes like this. The Mueller Report is out. Redacted, but the bulk of it and the findings are in the first volume about collusion are what they are. Why does it matter . Why chase down don junior for what it said when the facts are established and out in the Mueller Report . The facts may not be fully established by the Mueller Report. There are a lot of open questions that remain to be answered as mark warner just implied. The Mueller Report raises many of them, in fact we sent a letter, members of the Judiciary Committee on the democratic side, to the powers that be, asking for mueller to appear because we have about 60 questions about not only obstruction, but also russian collusion and remember, the attack on our democracy continues. Those facts need to be known. Im curious what you make of the internal caucus dynamics with your colleagues and a lot of senators are mad at richard burr and a lot of primary threats on line and such. This is from new york reporter and in the closed door lunch, he walked through the back story and defended his work for the people directly familiar. Connell offered support for the handling of the committee. What do you think is happening here . The Intelligence Committee is doing its job. The trump, jr. Contacts with Konstantin Kilimnik and polling data by Paul Manafort and negotiations on trump tower moscow, the meeting at trump tower new york and dealings with his father on the statement that obviously was misleading and deceptive in explaining that meeting. There are a slew of questions that the Intelligence Committee has to be focussed on. Im not on the Intelligence Committee so i cant speak for that committee or richard burr, but he is doing his job. One question. He didnt have contact with Constantine Kilimnik . He didnt have the contact, but jump, jr. May have known about it. You had him before your committee and now that you had time to look through the whole report, do you think he lied to you when you had him before your own committee . There are very, very serious questions about his credibility and factualness. He should be called back to explain why he gave seemingly inaccurate answers. For example, whether he knew about the negotiations. He had only peripheral awareness. Michael cohen testimony said he was in the thick of it. Those kinds of misleading and inaccurate statements, im not drawing a conclusion about perjury, but he needs to come back. What are the odds is that Lindsey Graham calls him back . There will be growing pressure on the Judiciary Committee as there has been on other members of the senate because america is under attack. We are talking about accountability to stop that attack. All right, senator richard blumenthal, thank you. Thank you. More on the potential legal woes of the other donald trump, the former federal prosecutor and legal analyst. Executive editor of above the law and contributor to the nation. What do you make of this subpoena which the timing of which and the target of which are fascinating and disruptive, given what we experienced recently. The first thing i would say about the subpoena is it seems unlikely to me that don, jr. Will ever testify. I say that because almost any lawyer i know would recommend he assert his fifth amendment privilege. That doesnt mean he raises his hand and asserts it. Thats not the way generally it happens. Maybe they will decide to do that. If a lawyer calls you and said my client will assert his fifth amendment right, its over. The idea behind that is we dont force people to be humiliated by asserting their privileges that we hold so dear. My guess is thats going to happen after all the fighting is over. The only other thing is the timing makes a big difference. As far as deciding whether burr is bucking the system. If it was issued before majority leader made his comment about how the case was over, it doesnt mean is bucking the system at all. Im bordering on depressed about any chance we will hear from him. I think him taking the fifth seems entirely reasonable, what do you think . He should take the fifth, but this White Privilege silver spoon treatment has to stop. He needs to invoke his right against self incrimination for the whole country to see. Thats an important part of the process. Its no longer about humiliat n humiliation. Its about finally holding the trump family accountable. They put them publicly on the record from what they are doing and trying to do. We have to stop and a congressional subpoena is not spam. Don, jr. Cant crumple it up and say i destroyed their only copy. He has to Pay Attention and he has two options. We can identify truthfully or show up and take the fifth amendment and we can all know he is invoking his Constitutional Rights and got to be one or the other. This pocket ignorance of law has to stop. I dont think cynthias point, i think you are probably right, if he is told he will get the fifth amendment will not make him go through that production. There is unbelievable pressure being brought to bear on burr. I find it fascinating to watch. Given the fact that to cynthias point that he can just take the fifth, you can just have him take the fifth. Thats his constitutional right. Its fascinating about the amount of pressure and the anger at burr for doing this. This is what donald trump the president had to say about his son earlier today. My son is a good person. My son testified for hours and hours. My son was totally exonerated by mueller, who frankly does not like donald trump. Me. This donald trump. And frankly for my son after being exonerated to now get a subpoena to go again and speak again after close 20 hours of telling everybody that would listen about a nothing meeting . Yeah, im pretty surprised. What do you think, cynthia . Well, first of all, the Mueller Report did not exonerate him. The Mueller Report said as a matter of law, they didnt think he mentally could form the intent. This is a section of the Mueller Report i find to be a mystery. Quite frankly it lays out to me like a conspiracy. I am looking forward to hearing bob mueller explain it to us. He should be looking in my opinion at charges for lying to the senate, for trying to do this Campaign Finance violation with the russians and looking at charms for the Campaign Finance violations for Stormy Daniels and the financing. Cohen is in jail for it and nothing is happening. I am outraged about the way he is treated and the problem is that there is not really right now a justice department. Barr is at the head of it. My level of depression is extremely high. This is not just about the Mueller Report. I dont know why republicans are freaking out about this if they had faith in their guy, trump, and his family. Michael cohen blew don, jr. Up in public testimony. He all but called him a liar and pointed out massive inconsistencies. If the trumps were telling the truth, don, jr. Should be rushing to correct the record and to put his word against a known liars word. I think burr was trying to help him and republicans are freaking out. Heres the problem, elie. I agree, heres the problem in terms of putting witnesses on and Going Forward with cases. Michael cohen is a convict ed perjurier. Should he be fined in front of a jury in you have to have a United States attorney willing to go forward. There is nobody to go forward and thats why its a problem. Its so circular. Junior should be willing to go up in front of the public and the senate and the congress and say Michael Cohen was lying. If he cant, that accrues to Michael Cohens credibility, not don, jr. s. When Michael Cohen went under oath before and said what he had to say while he was facing jail time and he was now in prison. Thank you both. Next, so what was donald trump doing while he was losing a billion dollars over 10 years . Would you believe flipping through fabric swatches . The ghost writer paints a picture of a bored failing businessman and joins me here in two minutes. 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There but what are wes to get our messactually saying . Ys. Any message is a story. And all stories tell the tale of the times we live in right now. How do you want to be remembered . How do you want your story to play out . Our own experiences make the best stories, and your words carry a lot of weight. Think about what you want to say before you say it. Or send it. In the wake of the New York Times piece, Donald Trumps billion with a b losses over a decade. We are still wrestling with is he a tax cheat or a stunningly bad business person . Charles leerson, the ghost writer for Donald Trumps 1990 book, surviving at the top, shared htsz observations from the era. Trumps apparent deep preoccupation with fabric swatches. To a surprisingly large extent was him looking at fabric swatches. Some days he did it for hours. The main thing was that they were within his comfort zone where as the management of hotels and airlines wasnt. Heres the ghost writer for surviving at the top who wrote trump the billion dollar loser, i was his ghost writer and i saw it happen. It was a fascinating piece because it comports with the way he is a president. What was your impressions of him at the top of his game at this point when you signed on to do this project. He is the trump of the public imagination. What did you see . You are right. I came into it and this was the sequel to the art of the deal. I was an outsider and thats the impression of trump that i had. A lot of people said mark burnett of the apprentice created the trump that so many people voted for. Ironically, he came from a book. Heres a guy who has written more books than hes read, but his image was shaped by a book, the art of the deal. I came in thinking he was golden boy, young business genius. Boy, it was very hard. It took me 15 or 20 sessions to realize i was working at news week at the time and i would go back to the office and i cant believe it. He just didnt he was the trump we know, the uninformed ignorant trump we know. People were already on board and propping him up and thinking he was a genius. What did he actually do . You said he was spending his time on fabric swatches. What do you mean by that . This plays into the way he runs the country now. He sits in his office with Mick Mulvaney and a lot of stuff happening all over. He is o livious to it and he cant even spell kentucky and doesnt know what goes onali ate department of agriculture. The plaza hotel and the trump schultz. He would buy them and there would be a lot of hoopla and he had no knowledge of thou run them. He focused on the fabric swatches. It played into his germophobia. He was replacing the carpets and the drapes and he was always deep cleaning the Airline Seats and thats what his life became. He would say what do you think of this piece of velour and i feel it and we would talk about it. At the center of this chaos was this man feeling fabric. You said this. One of the aides said every room in the plaza could be at the list price and the revenue would not cover the Monthly Payment of the loan he took out to buy the place. Perhaps trump knew it because someone told him and the one thing he is above average at is compartmentalizati compartmentalization. What is your theory about how this man managed to get through 40 years coning people . The nuts and bolts are, the banks were caught up in the whole trump image thing. They were believing the art of the deal over what they saw on his Balance Sheets and what came out of his mouth. For a while he