Transcripts For MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports 20180731 16:0

MSNBCW Andrea Mitchell Reports July 31, 2018 16:00:00

Interviews with political figures and news updates. Agreement that collusion, if you look in the law books, isnt a crime, but conspiracy is a crime. If you speak to legal analysts, and pete probably knows a whole lot more about this, they would say its a part of the broader question that investigators are looking into, andrea. And pete, at the courthouse, this is so important, because its not related directly to the russia probe, but its so important for mueller to have a really strong case going in. Reporter Jury Selection is under way now, andrea. And it could end today. We could get Opening Statements tomorrow, if Jury Selection slops over into tomorrow. Its expected to last three weeks. It has nothing to do with the time that manafort worked on the campaign or was campaign chairman. It has to do with his work for another president , viktor yanukovych, former president of september, andrea. And just a fashion question, this is a man known for his very, very expensive customtailored suits. They took suits away from his closets when they raided his house. Is he in a green Prison Jumpsuit there in court as the potential jurors are being selected . Reporter he is not. He is wearing a normal business suit. I didnt get a chance to look at his tie. My colleague ken dilanian is here, did you see what color tie Paul Manafort was wearing . He did not either, because he sat with his back to us. He was dressed in civilian lobbying clothes. I mean, its interesting because when he was in court for a pretrial motion, he was in prison gauche. Reporter yes. Mimi rocah, youve been through so many of these. Mueller under fire, Rudy Giuliani All Over The Place in the last 24 hours. Obviously they are really going on offense. And he kind of dangled this possibility that there was a premeeting before that Infamous Trump tower russia meeting, then said maybe not so much, that he was trying to at Least Inoculate against a potential New York Times story, leading Maggie Haberman of the New York Times to say, i cant really follow this thread. It was hard to understand in his interview last night with the daily beast, what he was saying. Even fox news, when he was interviewing him to try to do some cleanup, looked shocked. They are going on offense although you can look at it as defense. What theyre worried about are the facts. Because facts are really starting to come out. Mueller, as we all know, has been so disciplined, so nothing has leaked out. Now that you have cohen in the picture and lanny davis, and you have a trial starting which has gates as a cooperator, some of his information now has gone to manaforts attorneys and maybe manaforts attorneys are giving it over to trumps attorneys. Theres a lot more thats starting to come out. What started out as, there were no meetings with the russians, there were no phone calls with the russians, there were no contacts with the russians, is just not viable anymore. So now theyve gone to the next step which is, okay, maybe we did it but its not a crime. And let me just be very clear, andrea, collusion is a crime. People should stop saying that. Its just not called collusion, its called conspiracy. We just call it by a different name in the federal statutes. How important is it for mueller, given all the pr coming against him and all the attempts by house republicans, for instance, to undermine his correlate, how important is it for him to get a conviction in this first trial . It is important, because theres no question, theres sort of the, if he didnt get the conviction, the witchhuntcrying Conspiracy Theorists would be out there saying, see, these are trumpedup, no pun intended, charges, and there was no basis for them. Getting a conviction, they will still say, well, this had nothing to do with the russian conspiracy, which is technically true. But if he doesnt get a conviction, it will allow people to try to further undermine him. But the professional that mueller is, and the prosecutors on his team, theyre not thinking about that. I really believe they are putting their heads down. When youre in that trial zone, youre barely thinking about anything else. You dont eat, you know, you work 18hour days. My guess is they are tuning all of this out at this point. And pete, if you know, and this is way down the road, but if he is convicted in this first case and the next case is much closer to home in terms of the trump campaign, might he then be willing to deal . Theres been no sign that hes been willing to cut the kind of deal that rick gates, his deputy, did. Reporter no, i think there are two questions about that, andrea. Given that rick gates has agreed to testify against mueller and cooperate with the government, and given that he was so closely journalist thinks i cant believe i even work in the same News Division where she works. Its always been a privilege. Congratulations on 40 years, my friend. Im ray and i quit smoking with chantix. I tried cold turkey, i tried the patch. They didnt work for me. I didnt think anything was going to work for me until i tried chantix. Chantix, along with support, helps you quit smoking. Chantix reduced my urge to smoke. I needed that to quit. When you try to quit smoking, with or without chantix, you may have nicotine withdrawal symptoms. Some people had changes in behavior or thinking, aggression, hostility, agitation, depressed mood, or suicidal thoughts or actions with chantix. Serious side effects may include seizures, new or worse heart or blood vessel problems, sleepwalking or allergic and skin reactions which can be lifethreatening. Stop chantix and get help right away if you have any of these. Tell your Healthcare Provider if youve had depression or other Mental Health problems. Decrease alcohol use while taking chantix. And lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. There are new signs that kim jongun is already cheating, backing off of his promise to denuclearize. The Washington Post reporting u. S. Spy satellites see signs that north korea is constructing a new long range missile, at least one, in a secret base outside pyongyang that has the range to reach the east coast of the united states. Joining me now is john brennan, former director of the cia, now nbc Senior Intelligence and security analyst. Welcome, good to see you, john. Were seeing satellite photos. Ive talked to sources, Courtney Kube has as well, confirming the information, the Wall Street Journal as well, signs that north korea is continuing to build. They discontinued testing months and months ago, as the president has said with great pride. But the fact is, if theyre now building, could this mean theyve finished testing because they were moving to a new production stage . Congratulations on 40 years of outstanding professionalism. Thank you, john. Youve done a great job in educating the American Public on some difficult and complicated issues, youre to be commented for that. Thank you. It shouldnt surprise anybody week ago about the singapore summit. We had a fantastic meeting with chairman kim. And it seems to be going very well. How difficult is it for his intelligence advisers and his Secretary Of State now to try to inject some reality into these negotiations when the president is bragging about it publicly . It must be very difficult for them to try to convey to him the seriousness of the issue and to make sure that he understands what is and is not happening. Clearly mr. Trump continues to grandstand and to say things publicly that are far removed from the truth. Im reminded of hamlets soliloquy in terms of Sound And Fury signifying nothing. A lot of times we hear mr. Trump spout out on these issues, including meetings with mr. Putin and kim jongun and others, and theres not much there there. These are serious issues that affect u. S. National security. Im hoping all of his advisers and the Intelligence Community are taking the issue seriously, as im confident they are. Mr. Trump has to do the same thing. He has to understand its not just a question of how to express what he believes or what he wants people to believe is happening. He really needs to make progress on these very thorny National Security issues. A couple of weeks ago, as se secretary pompeo was having difficulty getting pyongyang to live up to commitments, we heard john bolton saying on sunday talk shows, maybe pompeo can do this in a year or so. I asked dan coats about that, and he was explicit, you cant denuclearize north korea in a year. Whats your projection . I think if were serious about having North Korea Denuclearize or move along that path, its going to require some patience, as well as to understand that to dismantle their nuclear and Ballistic Missile programs, which means to destroy the warheads, to tear down or dismantle those facilities that produce the fissile material, the machining and the engineering facilities, all of this is part of that program. And if were really going to have them denuclearize, there has to be a very comprehensive plan and program to be able to get them to move along that past. But so far, ive seen nothing at all. North korea says its dismantled or destroyed its testing facility. Its already tested its device half a dozen times, for North Korea Standards and reliability, thats sufficient. Theyve continued to grow their stockpile as well as better develop the capabilities to deliver the warheads to potential targets. I want to also ask you about the president , after the fiery threats against iran and its regime only a week or so ago, was saying yesterday he would talk to the leader of iran with no preconditions. The Secretary Of State quickly fixed that or tried to fix it on cnbc by listing three specific preconditions. But what about the president s attitude towards these meetings with leaders of rogue states or other adversaries . Well, i think it reflects two things. One is that he makes up Foreign Policy on the fly. So whatever comes into his mind, he decides to say it. Secondly, i think he has a greatly, greatly inflated view of his ability to move the needle on these key National Security issues, weather russia, north korea, or iran. When he says im willing to meet with anyone, any time, i believe that he means it. But i dont think he understands just how complex these issues are, and also he probably realizes that the iranians are not going to take him addt his word because his word has been proved to be worthless. He is not somebody who is able to be pinned down on some of these issues. This is the first chance ive had to talk to you since the threats from the white house to strip you of your security clearance. Have they followed up on that . And what are the implications of it for you . Well, i have heard nothing other than what has come out from the white house spokesperson. Im not surprised that this is something that rand paul has thought up. Rand paul is not on the intelligence committee. I dont know anybody in the intelligence National Security realms who takes what rand paul says seriously. But he continues to spout off on these issues. And so he got mr. Trumps ear. I dont know whats going to happen, but, you know, they have a real flawed understanding about what Security Clearances mean. Ive gone back to the agency a number of times to review my files so i can be prepared for Congressional Committee hearings as well as interviews by staff. But i dont go back to the agency and get briefings. Ive never requested a briefing on any issue over the past year and a half since i left government. This is senator paul and mr. Trump trying to make some public, you know, hay by saying these things. But again, i have heard nothing more about it since last week. John brennan, thank you as always, and thank you for your good thoughts, it really means a lot to me. Thank you, andrea, best wishes. Breaking news from the white house. National correspondent peter alexander, take it away. It involves the Chief Of Staff. Reporter exactly right, Chief Of Staff to the president john kelly, nbc news now confirming from a Senior Administration official who spoke to me on the condition of anonymity that kelly told staff here at the white house on monday that the president had asked him to stay on board as Chief Of Staff through the 2020 election and kelly told those in the room that he has agreed to that. This is significant for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is there has been a lot of speculation that john kelly may be among the next out here at the white house. His influence has certainly waned in recent months. But the tensions, according to officials, between the president and kelly himself have waned. Perhaps thats a function of the fact that the president is really increasingly, it appears, been relying on others, including former fox news executive beill shine who has been by his side on recent trips including the trip to meet with vladimir putin. John kelly is not one to hide his expressions, perhaps his frustration with some of the Public Comments by the president , most note i wiably a president sat across from nato allies a few weeks ago during the events that took place there, his fierce criticism, president trumps criticism of nato. Kelly seemed to be rolling his eyes, had his head in his hands briefly. The white house said he wasnt satisfied with the breakfast offerings. The takeaway is that john kelly, at least according to these officials, told staff he will stick around, as the president desired, through 2020, andrea. Peter alexander. A lot of Breaking News today. Thank you. And more Breaking News to report. Lets go to Nbc News National Political reporter mike memoli on capitol hill. Reporter facebook is briefing congressional leadership about new suspicious activity its identified on its platform, were talking about pages and accounts, designed to promote political instability, political divisive issues in our elections. A Public Announcement will be coming officially from facebook within the next hour. Let me give you an example of the kinds of things theyre talking about. For instance, the abolish i. C. E. Movement we have seen has become a very divisive and hot button political topic in our campaigns here. What facebook has identified, using its technology on its platform, is that there were specific pages and accounts that they believe to be foreignoriginated that were amplifying and promoting these kinds of messages. Facebook is not prepared at this point to specifically point the finger at russia as being involved in it. But sources on the congressional side that ive talked to do say that russia has been mentioned as the likely source of this interference attempts. We know the Justice Department has been briefed. At this point the white house itself has not been briefed. But lawmakers here are among those beginning to just now learn of some of this information. Well be hearing more from facebook in the next hour. This of course gets to the Heart And Soul of divisions within the democratic party, because democrats are now struggling, nancy pelosi and others on one side, struggling against others on the more Progressive Side of the party who are talking about abolishing i. C. E. Over this immigration dispute. And many in the party believe that this is counterproductive in terms of the midterm elections because it puts the party too far to the left. Reporter thats exactly right, andrea. Its exactly the kind of thing that russia did during the 2016 campaign. Reporter thats right. In the february indictments we saw from Special Counsel Mueller and his team, they referred to pages and accounts that were amplifying the messaging of the black lives matter movement. Officials tell me now that the pages created were meant to impersonate a democrat or liberalleaning page. But they know this is a divisive issue that republicans are seizing on and theyre using that page to stoke that kind of debate. Mike memoli, thank you very much. This directly relates, of course, to another democratic senator who has been targeted by hackers. The Daily Beast Reporting senator Jeanne Shaheens office was hit by at least one phishing email attack, also by someone impersonating a latvian official hoping to get inside information on american sanctions against russia. This comes after Russian Hackers tried unsuccessfully, we believe, to infiltrate senator Claire Mccaskills Office Computer network. Shes in a Tough Reelection fight. Joining me now is democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen who serves on the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees. Welcome, senator. First of all

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