Michael flynn. End the investigation. Im joined noud by ken dilanian with nbc news it, Natasha Bertrand who covers is the russia probe with the atlantic and jill winebanks, all three of you, i want to know what you make of these two witnesses being called, comey already and sessions very soon. And then the president. Chris, what i think this shows is mueller is accelerating sat ob struskz justice aspect of the probe. The three pillars of this investigation, it looks like the Obstruction Case is going down the track further and faster than the collusion and Money Laundering. Theres a lot we dont see but the obstruction witnesses we know who they are and what stories they have to tell. Its not a surprise that comey is a key witness. Whats surprising to me is its happening now and seems like its speeding up. Natasha, explain how you see what kind of a case mueller is going to make here with these hot witnesses now. It seems like ken said hes moving more quickly along the obstruction path. That doesnt necessarily say to me or others talking to people in these circles that this indicates that the investigation as a whole is wrapping up. It just means perhaps one of phase of the investigation is closer to completion than another. One of the things that struck me about the Washington Post reporting in terms of what mueller wants to ask trump is he really wants to hone in with trump was so angry with sessions and yes, why at one point he wanted sessions to resign. That to me says that mueller is honing in on the idea that perhaps trump wanted Attorney General Sessions to resign so that he could perhaps appoint someone not recuseds from the vision. That is another aspect of the probe that could perhaps come into play. Well, let me go to jill on this. Youve been through this before
in history. It looks to me like trump was trying to kill the investigation of trump. It isnt complicated. He didnt like having an Attorney General out there fighting for him, not just defending him and killing investigations. Its clear he didnt like what comey said when he want put down the sword and let himself become a knight of the trump roundtable. He wasnt going to play that part. It seems to me, he wanted to protect flynn because flynn new something. Watch this thing as a detective story, it seems to come out trumps hiding and using all his powers as president to protect himself. Everything youve said it absolutely correct. I agree with you completely. It certainly looks bad for trump. But it probably actually is bad. Its not just that it looks bad. We can also assume not just that flynn knows things. We know that comey knows because he was in charge of the investigation into the russian collusion and the russian
wrongdoing toward our election before he was fired. Now, whatever he knows of course, the fbi still has in its institutional memory and can be used as evidence of any Campaign Cooperation with the russians which is a very serious underlying crime. Its always easier to make the Obstruction Case than it is to prove this underlying relationship with a foreign government. So thats why it may look like its moving faster, but lets not jump 0 conclusions about this because we dont know what papadopoulos knows, what flynn knows, and we dove know what sessions knows. Remember sessions was involved in the campaign. He may have substantive information about relationships with russia. He after all did not report at least two meetings with the russians that he probably should have reported. He may have participated in others that we dont know about yet. So im going to give the break to mueller who i believe has a lot more information than were even speculating about. To make your point, jill, we didnt even know he had interviewed comey. Apparently in december an the end of last year. Now his train is moving a lot faster than the medias. When it comes to meeting with the Russian Ambassador, the Attorney General exhibited a pattern of what i like to call rolling disclosure, letting people know the truth when you the have to. During his Confirmation Hearing last year, he said at first he had no communications with the russians. I didnt, did not have communications with the russians. And im unable to comment on it. Well, and then once his meetings were revealed by the press, rolling disclosure, sessions said in march, march a few months later that the meetings were not about the Trump Campaign. I never had meetings with russian operatives or russian intermediaries about the Trump Campaign. Well hen in october, a few
months later after that, sessions said its possible he did discuss some of the campaigns positions with the Russian Ambassador. I dont think there was any discussion about the details of the campaign other than it could have been that in that meeting in my office or at the convention that some comment was made about what trumps positions were. I think thats possible. You know, you wonder about this ability to just sort of fade on the memory. Some of it is the soft accent and nice folksy way and a nice likable guy but if Chuck Schumer tried that, nobody would give him an inch. Of course, you remember, you remember everything. Its no accident Jeff Sessions went into this meeting with a criminal with defense attorney. Is he looks like he might have exposure. There was some intelligence reporting, eavesdropping on the Russian Ambassador where he reported back to moscow he had a
substantive conversation with sessions at theplay mayflower hotel. Thats the reason copy testified that sessions probably had to recuse himself. So theres absolutely the story evolved and theres a real question about does he have any exposure. Talk about that, natasha, and what he would know. This is a question i know having worked in politics years ago. I get to jill on this and back to you. When youre in politics sitting near the top, all the conversations are going on around you and youre hearing things, youre a fly on the wall. What did that mean . Im trying to figure this thing out. Youre always trying to figure the thing out. If sessions is a Political Animal which he is, he got this far, Attorney General, smore from that state all these years, he knows how politics works. If he heard a russian accent, your ears would pop up. What is going on with us and the russians and by the end of the
campaign, you damn well know what the deal was with the russians because you would want to find out. Your thoughts . Its very unlikely all of this was happening around him and he never noticed why are all of these russians approaching the campaign . Why is this happening . The two meet it is he had with kislyak, he didnt disclose to congress. The meeting had he with George Papadopoulos he seemed to have completely forgotten until it came out that papadopoulos had been in that meeting and actually pitched the Trump Campaign to meet with putin. So this is something that is genuinely, its curious and it also another aspect of this is that sessions is you know, potentially facing some criminal exposure. We dont know the whether or not mueller knows. Perhaps he misled congress. Perhaps he contributed to something that would resemble obstruction when he made the decision to write the letter that would then help trump come up with a decision to fire comey. So these are all questions that mueller wants to know the answer
to. Hes been speaking to flynn and papadopoulos over the past several months and they likely have given him a lot of information what sessions did and didnt know during the campaign. Along this point while ive got you, natasha, can you turn an Attorney General . Can you turn an Attorney General can you find that he discovers he is in trouble in a conversation with mueller and goes wait a minute, if you put it that way, i look guilty. Im part of this effort to clean up the president s by getting rid of comey because i wrote this letter. This could be a step towards a commission of conspiracy. Im guilty. It seems thats going to flash in his brain. Your thoughts . Some legal experts have said that mueller, you know, would not have gotten to sessions this quickly had he not thought that perhaps he had some evidence that maybe sessions had said something in the past that wasnt true that he potentially get him on. Thats part of the reason why he
hasnt perhaps interviewed donald trump jr. Yet. He thinks theres a possibility that sessions has information he can then give to mueller that can help him further bolster his case. Whether or not thats leveraging is criminal exposure against sessions or saying you need to tell me this or you could be in trouble, that remains to be seen. Donned juniors time in court will be nervous for his father. Sessions testified in october he was not aware of any Campaign Surrogates meeting with russians. You dont believe that surrogates from the Trump Campaign had communications with the russians . Is that what youre saying . I did not and im not aware of anyone else that did. However, former Campaign AdviserGeorge Papadopoulos later revealed sessions did preside over a meeting in March Of 2016 papadopoulos told sessions and trump his connections could arrange a meeting between trump and putin. Heres what sessiones the said when he returned to the hill to testify in november. I do now recall that the march 2016 meeting at the trump hotel that mr. Papadopoulos attended but i have no clear recollection of the details of what he said that the meeting. George stevpapadopoulos is cooperating with investigators. Yesterday his fiancee told it the Washington Post i remember history will remember him like john dean adding theres a lot to come. Theres a fruitful statement. The girlfriend, fiancee of his who has intimate information about what he thinks thinks of himself as she and he perhaps think of him as the number one stoolie here, the number one witness for the prosecution. It could be, and i will point out that john dean has said that a big mistake that the Nixon White House made during watergate was underestimating
how much he knew and thats why he got in so much trouble. We shouldnt underestimate what George Papadopoulos may know. And it could be that he is the john dean and that he reveals everything that we need to know. And i also want to point out, youve mentioned several times this i dont remember, I Dont Recall and how many times our Attorney General said that. And in nets ordinary trial, any ordinary jury is going to say, that is not credible. A man of his education, a man of his position, a man of his experience does not forget all of those meetings. He does not forget that he had a conversation about surrogates meeting in russia. Its not believable. He could be in substantive tub trouble for perjury. He could have misled the congress when he was being confirmed. There are so many things that he could be in trouble for and maybe he will want to protect himself and he will cooperate. Ken, where we heading . Ing. George papadopoulos knew before almost anyone the russians had hacked emails. Theres no way he kept that information to himself. Hes a low Level Campaign functionary. His whole purpose was to please his betters. He had to pass information on. The question is who knew about it. Jill, it seems to me the most powerful witnesses this sounds like first grade commentary, but the one with the really good memory and john dean it turned out was his memory as one of those tape recordings. He was as good the one they reaped, it was a recording, his memory was like a recording. And when it came out and the tapes came out, everything he said was verified verbatim. Do we have any witnesses like that in this case . How powerful will they be . Its impossible to guess because only mueller knows the answer to that right now. Dean was incredible in his memory and he testified without knowing that there were tapes. He was taking a big risk in
giving the kind of detail he did. You are right. When he said theres a cancer on the presidency and he told the president that On March 21st and you play the tape of march 21st, thats exactly what he said. That was true with every conversation he testified to. Im hoping there is someone like that. Unfortunately, so far, although the president threatened that there might be tapes that would get comey in trouble for saying what he said about the white house meeting, so far the president hasnt produced them. I hope there are tapes. That would be most helpful and interesting. My second effort memory has come through. The rod was called memorex. They used to show how it sounded just as faithful as the or sound made on this earth. Thank you so much ken, jill ad a natas natasha. The News Special Counsel mule ter questioned the Attorney General and the former fbi director comes as trump is throwing up another smoke screen to distract from the russia
investigation. His weapon is smoke. When hes in trouble, his strategy is to attack the investigators and the pleadia and that the average person doesnt know whats going on. Plus, more on the news Robert Mueller wants too question trump in the coming weeks. His allies think its not a perjury trap. Why would they be so worried about it if theyre not so worried about perjury . Dont they think trump is telling the truth . Trump says ending the shutdown of the government is a big win for the republicans. Sounds like hes happy to take credit for ending the shutdown even though he was sitting in the white house worrying about his Birthday Cake not eaten after his first year in office like mrs. Haver sham in great expectations. Let me finish tonight with the trump watch. This is a doozy. This is hardball where the action is. With 33 individual vertebrae and 640 muscles
in the human body, no two of us are alike. Life made more effortless through adaptability. The perfect Position Seat in the lincoln continental. former Vice President joe biden today responded to
criticism that the Obama Administration did not do enough to address russian meddling in the lead up to the 2016 election. Biden argued that any public announcement about Russian Medsing would be aimed at tipping the election in favor of the democrats. Can you imagine if the president of the United States called a Press Conference in october with this fellow and bannon and company and said tell you what, the russians are trying to interfere in our elections and we have to do something about it. What do you think would have happened . Ask yourselves, what do you think would have happened . Would things have gotten better or would it further look like we were attempting to delegitimize the Electoral Process because of our opponent . Well be right back. Why suffer . Stand up to chronic migraine with botox®. Botox® is the only treatment for chronic migraine shown to actually prevent headaches and migraines before they even start. Botox® is for adults with chronic migraine, 15 or more headache days a month each lasting 4 hours or more. Its injected by a doctor once every 12 weeks. And is covered by most insurance. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or Muscle Weakness can be signs of a life threatening condition. Side effects may include allergic reactions, neck and injection site pain, fatigue, and headache. Dont take botox® if theres a skin infection. Tell your doctor your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. With the botox® savings program, most people with commercial insurance pay nothing outofpocket. Talk to your doctor and visit botox®cmsavings. Com to enroll. Closer and closer to the oval office, President Trump and allies are stepping up attacks on the fbi, the agency whose probe into russian meddle ultimately led to muellers appointment. Axios reports that are Attorney General Sessions has been pressuring fbi director Christopher Wray to fire deputy direct ker andrew mccabe. Repor today the president pushed back on the allegation. Did Christopher Wray. No, he didnt at all. He did not threaten . He did not even a little bit. No. Hes going to do a good job. The white house confirmed its Calling Pore Changes at the fbi even as it investigates the Trump Campaign. Deputy press secretary said in a statement the president has enormous respect for the thousands of rank and file agents believing senior leaders
including former director comey and others have tainted the agencys reputation. Im joined by Steve Schmidt, republican strategist and former Assistant Director for Counter In