Those indictments, sir. A house and a senate divided. The Senate Intel Committee concludes russia did interfere in the 2016 election to help donald trump, breaking with house republicans. Ive got no reason to doubt the intelligence communitys finding and i think the Senate Intel Committees report makes sense to me. Art of the deal. Critical trade talks with china about to get under way after two of the president s lead negotiators reportedly blow up at one another. And an American Dream out of reach . Well, is it . Unemployment is low, profits are very high. But a new study finds more than 40 of u. S. Households cannot pay for the basics of a middle class life, even if they have a job. We begin this morning with a bob mueller milestone. Appointed exactly one year ago today. The russia investigation has hung over the Trump Administration ever since. Now, the president s attorneys say mueller needs to wrap this thing up. So heres the question. Is it time for special counsel to show his cards . I have a great team here to break all of it down. First, i want to lay out where things stand. Lets start big picture. When bob mueller was appointed as special counsel one year ago, he was authorized to investigate connections between the russia government and the Trump Campaign. He was also authorized to look into, quote, any matters that could arise directly from the investigation. Since then, mueller has delved into everything from financial dealings to foreign contacts to possible obstruction of justice. The president has repeatedly insisted its all a witch hunt. 40 times since being sworn in, including this morning. But the truth is, plenty has happened in the last year. Mueller indicted. Excampaign manager Paul Manafort. And got guilty pleas from five others including former National Security adviser michael flynn, as well as trump allies, rick gates and george papadopoulos. But trumps attorney Rudy Giuliani says the president himself will not be on that list. Overnight, giuliani told nbc news muellers team told him they will not indict President Trump. He said, quote, they know they dont have the power. Its as clear as can be, they dont have the right to indict under the Justice Department rules. And i know theyre not going to indict. When pressed about whether mueller himself said that, giuliani clarified it. Telling the washington post, quote, the issue was left as an open question during a recent meeting. But a deputy to mueller followed up a few days later in a phone call to clarify that the special counsel plans to follow the Justice Department guidelines. What exactly does that mean . Let me try to explain. The guidelines were talking about are based on two opinions. One written in 1973 and one written in 2000 that say the president is, quote, uniquely immune to indictment. Not only that, giuliani says the president , he cant be subpoenaed either. Were going to see what kind of legal remedies are available to us, including if they subpoena us challenge the subpoena. The same reason they cant indict him constitutionally. Which mueller agreed too, hes going to abide by no indictment of the president. I dont thing they agree to the process question. They cant issue a subpoena. That is not what Robert Mueller agreed to. The important to note the clinton memo has become part of the basics for Justice Department policy. And Deputy Attorney general rod rose rosenstein has said mueller is bound by that policy. But federal regulations also say if the special counsel decides if the extraordinary circumstances of any particular decision means that you cannot follow standard procedure, the special counsel can consult directly with the attorney general. So that appears to say that mueller could theoretically ask rosenstein for an exception to the rule. One other point, those guidelines were written by officials inside the executive branch, before being adopted as policy by the Justice Department. The issue has never been decided by the courts. And to some, that means the issue is still unclear. An indictment, if thats the course that Robert Mueller chooses to go, i believe would be upheld by the court, it would go to the United States supreme court. Its an issue that has never been resolved. In that way, there is a department of justice opinion to the contrary. I happen to think he could be indicted even if the trials postponed. What remains clear to me, lawyers, lawyers win the election. Of course, if the president really did break the law, he could still face impeachment. That is in the constitution. He could be indicted once he leaves office. For now, giuliani says all the special counsel can do is write a report and give it to rosen ste stein. Last night, he challenged mueller to put up or shut up. Were trying to get him to end this. This is not good for the american people. The special counsels office doesnt seem to have that understanding that theyre interfering with things that are bigger than them. I think they have the facts from which they can write the report. If youre going to write a fair report, fine, write it. If youre going to write an unfair report, write it and we will combat it. Even if the president cannot be indictmented, remember who was on the campaign trail with him, his daughter, his son and his soninlaw. I dont know how hed feel about them getting indicted. I want to go first to the white house and nbcs kristen welker. Okay, kristen, what is the president saying about all of this . The last 24 hours, thats like a tornado and a hurricane wrapped up in one. A good way to put it, stef. President trump is effectively trying to build on what you just heard from Rudy Giuliani. The fact this is now one year. Time to wrap it up. Take a look at his tweet earlier today. He tweeted out, congratulations, america, we are now into the second year of the greatest witch hunt in American History and there is still no collusion and no obstruction. The only collusion was that done by democrats who are unable to win an election despite the spending of far more money. Basically making the argument, stef, that its time to wrap it up. What you just heard Rudy Giuliani say when he told nbc news overnight and sort of hinting at that point that this is getting in the way of his official work here at the white house. To the Central Point though, can the president be indicted . Did Robert Mueller, in fact, say that to Rudy Giuliani . Look, even if he did, a lot of people are saying does that make President Trump more likely to sit down and do an interview with Robert Mueller. Thats sort of what Everyone Wants to know. President trump has said hes open to it. He sort of backtracked from that after the fbi raided his personal attorney michael cohen. Rudy giuliani and attorneys ive been speaking with continue to insist it will be crazy for them to let President Trump sit down and actually do that interview. Because he could be putting himself in legal jeopardy either way. And political jeopardy, stef. Theres a cost to that as well. So thats where the central question really lies right now. To that point of wrapping it up, this is something we have consistently heard the trump team say. That they want this to be wrapped up as soon as possible. Remember, ty cobb, who was the president s attorney here at the white house, handling the russia matter, now on his way out. He told the president this would be wrapped up by the end of the year. That didnt happen. Thats part of why you see this mounting frustration, stef. This wrap it up, while it might be a circus, this isnt show time at the apollo with a clown and a hook. When they continue to say were over and done with, yes, theres a tremendous amount of media focus. We need to remind our audience, benghazi took four year, no indictments. Hillary clintons emails, two year, no dietindictments. The president continues to call this a witch hunt. Unless hes given manafort, papadopoulos, gates and the lawyer who is already in jail as well as mike flynn, the new nicknames the witch posse, then what on earth is he talking about . I want to bring our panel in. He represented three white house employees during the chilinton scandals. Ari melber, up early for us on a big news day. Noelle lompur. And my old friend, mr. Obrien, executive editor of america first. Do you believe he will tell giuliani what hes planning to do with the investigation . Im watching this and giuliani it doesnt seem to make sense to me, especially given all the things giulianis had to clarify and walk back from in the last two weeks. Obviously giulianis credibility is at stake here. And its been criticized in the past because hes been inconsistent in various tv interviews. It is highly unlikely mueller showed his hand and said we will into the indict you. Unless there is some reason to say that to try to induce an interview, but trump might say why should i go to the interview if i cant be indicted. On the other hand, trump may say, i have nothing to lose, i might as well go to the interview, and even if im charged with perjury or potential perjury, i cant be indicted. Its unclear if mueller really said this. Certainly unclear whether an assistant of mueller said this. Because it doesnt sound like something that would have come out of the special counsels office. I obviously dont know mummer or his team, but i want to play a little more from what giuliani said on fox and friends specifically talking about that team. I asked him specifically if they if they realized or acknowledged they didnt have the power to indict. Both under the Justice Department memo, which gives them their power in essence, confined their power, and under the constitution. They could probably require documents to be produced. Thats what was required of nixon. They can probably require you to testify in a civil case, possibly even in a witness in a criminal case. They cant require youre to testify in what will be your own case. Because, after all, its all about a possible impeachment. Impeachment has to come before indictment. Indictment. Can you unpack this for us . Well, you know, the fact that he said that nixon had to provide documents is indicative of the fact that theres the power in a criminal investigation of president nixon to compel him to provide documents. And so its really unclear what mueller said, if anything, and giuliani has corrected his various tv appearances and statements on these appearances. So we really dont know what transpired. Okay, ari, just a few months ago, you spoke with one of the people who wrote those two that there are two legal opinions on whether or not a sitting president could be indicted. I know you spoke to one on the beat a couple of months ago. Is this black or white or is this wiggle room or room for interpretation . Heres the deal. Sometimes during these stories, it feels like were all going to law school together. And hes learning as he goes. What hes referring to in sort of a slap dash manner is that there are office of Legal Council opinions written in the Justice Department, as weve mentioned, weve done reporting on this, that weve stated, under both parties. That the view of the Justice Department is you do not indict a sitting president. That doesnt mean they cant be an unindicted coconspirator. But that has been the view. Now where does that kick in to mueller . Rudy did say one thing that is true. In addition, the other things he said that werent true. Which is he referred to the fact that rosenstein did write a memo authorizing the powers that mueller has. In it, under the rules, hes bound by gop polic dog doj poli. Mueller is bound by the prior pr opinions that we dont indict sitting president s. Being leaked out in a very hearsay, slapdash manner. Noelle, is he correct in saying that giuliani might be getting corrected by mainstream media. But the court of Public Opinion that matters to giuliani and trump is the fox news audience. While hes saying things that are untrue and we can pick them apart, is this strategy working for him . I think what ari said is very important because in that piece, that pretty much relieves him of being able to indict. I think that they have grabbed that. And made that their narrative in the talking points. We were talking about something before we came on, the fact that trump defines the talking points that the news Media Outlets are getting every day. When he doesnt like, in my opinion, when he doesnt like where its going, then he can send out a tweet and go, now were going to focus on obama and some of the nasty things he did when he was in office and its unfair what theyre doing to me. So what do the people talk about on the shows, lets interrupt it for a new tweet that trump has to say, the narrative has shifted. There are limits stephanie was reporting on in the top of the show, which those tweets didnt keep the lawyer out of prison. Hes in jail right now. Those tweets arent keeping Paul Manafort out from a case that a judge yesterday said is going forward. Trumps not worried about manafort, hes worried about himself. I think one of the hurdles bob muellers going to have to overcome in this is whats the narrative going to be at the end of the day. Whether he tries to indict or tries to refer this for impeachment to the congress. Hes going to have to have a narrative that has traction for american voters. Watergate, republicans did not fall away from Richard Nixon until the tapes emerged. I think there may be a projection error there, which is the assumption that the things that we in the public, the politic, the media, care about, what bob mueller cares about. Bob mueller may not care about whether or not donald trump is removed. May care about fighting the facts and putting them out. Stephanie, stephanie okay, jeff. One other thing to remember is ken starr took the position that they could indict a sitting president. And so you have a lawyer sitting in jail here. You have only a oneyear investigation. Whereas benghazi was four years. And Hillary Clinton testified under oath the clinton investigation was two or three years, 40 people in the Nixon Administration went to jail. That took more than one year. So this is just really early on in the investigation. And the one that lasted over a decade. Is interfering with his ability to do global negotiations. What do they think trump has to do, hes busy . Got to get up at 11 00. Without a doubt, people think President Trump has things to do. They can say they dont want to focus on this and they want to go thrive. If the president is making decisions because hes compromised, because hes indebted to russian oligarchs. Then hes not going to make decisions you have seen what giuliani said about they all want him to wrap it up. Because they want to know what theyre dealing with so they can get on with it instead of this long and drawnout why do you think he doesnt sit down for an interview . Who would advise trump to sit with mueller . Ultimately, hes not going to have a choice. The idea whether or not mueller can indict is separate from whether or not mueller can issue a subpoena. Clinton was subpoenaed to sit in front of a grand jury and he did. If bob mueller does not get what he wants out of donald trump, he will subpoena trump. Can i make one more observation . Please. That is super trag, as they say. Its an approvation for tragic. You thought you needed to tell me that . Im sorry, ari melber thought he had lingo down more than i did. Super trag, what you got . Well played. The president of the United States and his formal official representatives are not today taking the position that obviously he didnt commit a crime and thats why he wont be charged. Thats not their public position today. Its that the people who might charge him for a crime who va requirements under our rule of law that have overwhelming evidence to do that, thats provable in court. Its not that they dont have the evidencep its that they dont, under the rules, have the power to charge him. That is an actually stunning, aka super trag thing for reals. To state as your public defense. Its not were innocent. Its that even if were guilty, theres a footnote in the doj from 20 years ago that says you cant charge us. There are two responses to that. One, criminal Defense Attorneys will try to argue whatever they can. What works best for their client. And, two, trump is playing to his base and he doesnt appear to be concerned that that type of defense will impact upon his base of support. I have a response to your response which is i dont care what the political strategy to his base is. Im making a point how disturbing it is if thats the stated public position of the president of the United States. I would like to say that i care about everything you have to say. So youre always welcome to join me. You might not want to join sassy pants or on his show. Everybodys welcome. Im going to wrap this segment, inspired by flo rida and say its going down for real. Super rad. For you right there. Up next. See that . I really just do it for hygiene. I dont want to shake hands. Up next, Robert Mueller isnt the only one whos investigating russian meddling into the 2016 election. The Senate Intel Committee releases its report on russian meddling. Their report on russian meddling. And it contradicts a similar investigation from the house. And speaking of elections, members of President Trumps