But with each passing day, the investigation seems like it might be picking up steam. Nbc news is reporting that special Counsel Robert Mueller is issuing grand jury subpoenas to get records and documents related to the investigation. This weekend, Rod Rosenstein, in charge of overseeing, he provided Public Protection and granting him wide latitude to investigate any crime, his words there, any crime he uncovers during the investigation. Here is rosenstein on fox news sunday. The special counsel is subject to rules and regulations of the department of justice. We dont engage in fishing expeditions. If he finds evidence of a crime, can he look at that . Chris, if he finds evidence of a crime, that is in the scope of what director mueller and i have agreed is part of the investigation, then he can. If it is something outside the scope then he needs to come to the acting attorney general, at this time, me. It is ucnclear if the president will allow that. Last month President Trump warning that any investigation outside the scope of russia would cross a red line to him. Here he is talking to the New York Times. Mueller was looking at your finances, your familys finances, unrelated to russia. Is that a red line . Would that be a breach of what his actual i would say yes. For weeks the president and his allies have been leading a campaign to disqualify Robert Mueller and his investigation. Just yesterday the president s close friend and ally, newt gingrich, tweeted this. Quote, President Trump got 68. 6 in West Virginia. 4. 8 in washington, d. C. Guess where mueller has a grand jury . Guess how biassed it will be . And here is Kellyanne Conway counsellor to the president yesterday. We will continue to cooperate with bob mueller in his investigation. We just hired the 16th person. Many of them are democratic donors. We will continue to cooperate and comply. For more now, joined by former fbi special agent clint watts. Jennifer rogers, u. S. District attorney for southern new york. And former reporter for the New York Times. And jennifer, let me start from you, pr a prosecutor standpoint, if you were in bob muellers shoes and you are doing this investigation as special counsel and you heard senior official at the justice department, Rod Rosenstein who has the power to step in there and deny you latitude, and step in and take you off the case, if you heard him making the comments we just played yesterday, how as a special prosecutor to special counsel would you interpret that . It sounds like what he is saying is they have an agreement they have spoken at length about the parameters of the investigation and rosenstein says they are on the same page about it. I think mueller knows he has a job to do. He needs to gather facts, find out what happens here. If he does find information that takes him outside of the scope of what he and rosenstein discussed, i assume he will go back to rosenstein and expand the investigation. I think he has free latitude at this time to go into not only russian stuff directly but collateral issues the is up text, this is donald trump, Donald Trumps allies. Theyve made it clear. They dont have much regard for bob mueller. They are very suspicious of this investigation. Making all sorts of critical comments. If youre on the case, if youre that special prosecutor, did you read from the tone, from the content of what he said yesterday, would you say this is a guy whole have my back if it comes to it. If youre a prosecutor, how would you read it . I think rosenstein has been supportive of mueller. I think yesterdays comments were supportive. He has a job to do. He knows what the job is. I know what job is. He will be allowed to do his job. I think he is supported by that. Clinton, news here of subpoenas request for records, request for documents, youve been on the investigative side of this. Whats your read . It can be very vague in terms of what is in the public square. But from an investigative stachbd point, whats your read on whats going on in terms of the subpoenas . Yeah, you start with documents and hard evidence. Communications and finances. That then guides the rest of your investigation. They are using it very smart strategy. Going where the leads are taking them. Start with the hard evidence before you start bringing in witnesses and wanting to question them. I think thats a logical step and one we will see go on for quite sometime. I think the public needs to be aware this is a very slow process. We will roughly did you have a sense of what that means . Will it take a while . Are we talking months . More than year . Months before we get to the point where they are talking to witnesses. I think the only witnesses they might talk to earlier are those that are cooperating or someone whose statement they want to lock in on the investigation. Meaning that maybe they have something on somebody. Or it turned up in records theyve been polling. They bring them in first to get their statement, lock their testimony in. Find the next avenue they want to take the investigation after that. And nick, on the politics, the tweet from newt gingrich, he is accusing mueller thereof i guess shopping for a jury potential that will be politically hostile to the president . I dont know why you would stage any kind of jury proceeding in western virginia and not in washington, d. C. Just given the nature of this thing but politics of what trump, what white house what his allies are trying to do with the tax like that. Phone shl obstruction in washington, to see if it happened anywhere. If it happened in West Virginia, what you sigh here is the president and his allies trying to muddy up the investigation before it gets started to cast doubt on it and to take the understandable feeling of a supporter that hasnt been supported or recognized and harns that to tarnish an investigation that is just beginning. It is only just beginning. While President Trump lobs criticism at the investigation and mueller, deeming more than nothing of a hoax, his lawyers are trying to take a more tempered tone. Lawyers and spokespeople for President Trump appear to be lowering the temperature on the russia investigation. Talking more respectfully about special counsel bob mueller. Making noises about cooperation. Jennifer, what do you make of that . Newt gingrich, not on the president s legal team. This is a political ally. Newt gingrich is out there casting all sorts of doubt in mueller. They say the legal team is starting to look at this differently. Is that significant . I think it is. I think it is very smart. They had Marc Kasowitz who is not a criminal lawyer and not lowering the temperature in any way. Then they brought in ty cobb who has prosecution experience and is a white collar defense lawyer. Thats what you want, someone who knows the business and knows what youre doing and knows you want a Good Relationship with the people on the other side. At some point you will negotiate with them about testimony, documents, and maybe about a preceding if it gets filed. I think is very wise of the new lawyers to kind of lower that temperature and make nice with muellers team as much as they can. Does that carry into what jennifer was just saying about cooperation, about trying to have at least a cooperative tone in terms of the white house and in terms of investigators . So when donald trump thinks this is a bogus investigation, if donald trump doesnt trust mueller and mueller and his people are coming to the white house saying we want documents on this and we want documents on that, before it gets to the subpoena point, do you think you will have a white house thats cooperating more now that its turning stuff over . How much can donald trump disrupt it if he wants to . What is ultimately more confusing about this is why you would want to damage america in this way. You have a president going out there and trying to discredit different institutions in the u. S. Government. He attacked doj, fbi, Intelligence Community and now you know special counsel muellers investigation. Who is that good for ultimately other than trump . If it is about america first, then you arent taking down or tearing down institutions. Americans lose faith. Other part is every time he goes out publicly and tweets about this, or intervenes on behalf of his sons personal statement about a trump tower meeting that trump claims he doesnt know about and his son claims he doesnt know about it. He expand the investigation. He creates openings for investigators to pursue. Im sure ty cobb is wondering, why do you keep talking about this because you were expanding the investigation which you were a victim of. Youre not a victim if you create opening. If the White House Legal Team is looking at this and saying we better not be antagonizing mueller, we better be as cooperative and friendly as possible, is that at all connected to what donald trump does in terms of his posture . Are we seeing any signs, in evidence this new caution that the legal team apparently has is going to rub off at all on donald trump . Small signs of evidence. A statement of support for sessions which i think was prompted in part by what clinton was saying. Look, i think donald trump is a terrible client for his lawyers in this circumstance. He goes after judges, after the prosecutors. The best Case Scenario for donald trump right now is that bob mueller does an investigation free and fairly, is unimpeded and gives him a clean bill of health. That is the best Case Scenario. And by doing these attacks, he is inviting more scrutiny of how this process unfolds and he is stiffening opposition on the hill. He is creating enemies in his own party on the hill who are getting together to block him from an end run around mueller. Jennifer, let me ask you. As a prosecutor, nick says, best case is mueller looks at this and gives him a clean bill of health. Correct me if im wrong, im thinking anecdotally, when have you the big independent investigations, there used to be independent counsel, now they call it special counsel, do you ever get a clean bill of health when you put this many resources, this much latitude behind it. Even if they dont find the thing they set out looking for, they always turn up something, dont they . They might. It is not entirely clear. The statute is a different statute than mueller is operating under. Mueller is a guy with a lot of integrity. Most people think he wouldnt go beyond the confines of what he is supposed to look at. Where theres smoke, theres fire often. I think they may find things especially collateral issues like obstruction and the like. I dont think mueller is on a fishing expedition. I dont think he will go well beyond what he is supposed to do. Im not sure they will find anything no matter what if they keep digging. Senator Richard Blumenthal, he became one of the president s twitter targets today. Blumenthal appeared on cnn to voice support for the Ongoing Investigation into russia and its meddling in 2016 election. This is what he said. There is no minimizing or underestimating that attack by the russia and potential collusion by the Trump Campaign. Then op struks obstruction of j. That investigation must be pursued. President trump was apparently watching. He tweeted quote, interesting to watch senator Richard Blumenthal of connecticut talk about hoax russian collusion when he was a phony vietnam con artist. The president was referring to 2010 Campaign Issue regarding blumenthals military service. Blumenthal suggested he served in vietnam. He had not served in vietnam. Senator blumenthal responded to the president s tweeting saying this, mr. President , your bullying hasnt worked before and it wont work now. No one is above the law. President trump was not having it. He tweeted out late this afternoon, i think senator blumenthal should take a nice long vacation in vietnam where he lied about his service so he can at least say he was there. Nick, you talked a minute ago about the president and republican senators and getting some indication of republican senators wanting to make sure mueller is able to complete his job and the investigation is not stopped in any way. A guy like blumenthal, though, does this have any i mean, look, he stood up in response this afternoon but blumenthal was embarrassed by the thing. He was caught saying he served in vietnam, and he hadnt. He apologized on the spot very quickly. I can think of the things the president said that has not apologized for quickly or at all. This is the president blowing off steam. He is mad. Mad at everything right now. He has been told by his lawyers dont attack prosecutors. Dont do it, dont it. So steams comes out in Different Directions on cable tv. The president is in a twitter war with a senator over things that are on cable tv. Amazing. I think there was a report in roll call this afternoon saying, blumenthal, attorney general for connecticut of 25 years before going to the senate. Maybe there was overlap there with trumps business interest. Portfolio that blumenthal had in connecticut real estate. May be a longer story. We have to cut it short. Thanks to all of you for joining us and still ahead, President Trump says his base is growing stronger. If you look at his rallies, you might think he is ripe but if you take a look at latest poll numbers it does not support his kies. When we come back, we will put trumps a claim to the test. Plus, is there a split developing among republicans . Six months into the trump presidency, there are new reports that republicans, including Vice President mike pence, might be making moves towards the 2020 president ial election. Thats supposed to be trumps reelection year. Pence calling the report offensive. But trump is struggling to reunite his party in some ways. Why cant the Trump White House keep a Communications Director . Maybe the problem is the president himself who functions as his own defacto Communications Director, 140 characters at a time. Finally, hardball roundtable will be here with three things i dont know. This is hardball where the action is. Award winning interface. Award winning design. Award winning engine. The volvo xc90. The most awarded luxury suv of the century. This august visit your local volvo dealer to receive sommar savings of up to 4,500. This august visit your local volvo dealer you wto progress. Move. To not just accept what you see, but imagine something new. At invisalign®, we use the most advanced teeth straightening technology to help you find the next amazing version of yourself. Its time to unleash your secret weapon. Its there, right under your nose. Get to your best smile up to 50 faster. Visit invisalign. Com to get started today. Welcome back. One of the largest suppliers of apple is supposedly opening a new multibillion Dollar ResearchDevelopment Plant in michigan. South China Morning post, paper in hong kong, first reported the move on sunday but the company put out a statement only confirming that they are are considering that investment in michigan. This comes just two weeks after President Trump announced that fox con would be opening a 10 billion plant in wisconsin. The question is does this help the president in the key invu industrial states, the places he promised to bring back more jobs. Susan, thanks for joining us. Trump says im bringing jobs back. Some believed him, thought it was clans worth taking. Been 30 years since a republican won out there. He pulled it off. Whats your sense of this story . Are there jobs involved here in i know we are getting conflicting reports in terms of what foxconn is saying. Do you have a sense if this is real, if these jobs are coming . There are conflicting reports. But certainly our governor, rick snyder, has been hinting at this. Overseas in china, met with the foxconn chairman. I think there is expectation that something is coming here. Donald trump could use is good news in michigan because his poll numbers slipped to the low 40s. This is the bottom line question. This is why we are are asking because were interested in the states that swung toward trump and made the difference. The question is, can you keep him . We will talk more about this later. But if this happens, if foxconn comes to michigan with the jobs, you mentioned rick snyder the republican, are folks in michigan going to say hey, this is donald trump delivering . Or are they saying this is rick snyder delivering . I think he would be more likely to credit the president. Our governor slis a lame duck. He will be terminated out in 2018. I wouldnt be surprised to see donald trump if the jobs do come our way. A quick break here. On the other side, President Trumps nationwide Approval Rating looks like its suffering these days. But is his base actually getting stronger and if so, what would be driving that . We will have a debate ahead. Youre watching hardball. Out. And the Alzheimers Association is going to make it happen by funding scientific breakthroughs, advancing public policy, and providing local support to those living with the disease and their caregivers. But we wont get there without you. Visit alz. Org to join the fight. How to win at business. Step one point decisively with the arm of your glasses. Abracadabra. The stage is yours. Step two choose la quinta. 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