Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. That decision still has not been made. They have been delaying this time line here and stretching it out to some great length. Although Rudy Giulianis comments yesterday campaigning for house candidate of all things in New Hampshire were interesting. Essentially trying to call Robert Muellers bluff. Saying if youve got the goods, now is the time. Heres some of giuliani extending that Poker Metaphor a bit. We believe that the investigation should be brought to a close. We think were at the end of it. They should render their report. Put up i mean, i guess playing poker, we say put up or shut up, what do you got. We have every reason to believe they dont have anything. Chris, we play aed a lot of that sound yesterday. Let me make a small distinction here i think is notable. What i am starting to hear from Congressional Republicans on the hill, theyre not calling for the Mueller Investigation shut down. What im hearing more is they
want to hear it concluded soon. Remember, this is not a theoretical exercise. Everyone in the house, a third of the senate, is up for reelection in november. They dont want this to be an october surprise. If its possible to get this done in the fall, that could happen. We see more and more republicans getting more and more tired of talking about this. And more and more optimistic, they hope, it can be done sooner than later. Are you hearing they want donald trump to testify . Theyre pretty careful not to weigh in on that. I think they feel this is the kind of thing that could help bring the investigation to a conclusion. Saying look, if the president s innocent, hes innocent what does he have to be worried about. The key goal as far as Congressional Republicans are concerned, is to get this done so they dont have a comey letter of the week like the 2016 situation coming around in 2018. My panel, ned price, spokesperson for the national
of high stakes investigation and saying something he shouldnt or saying something they would have to clarify later. Most experts, including the president s own team, dont want that to happen. On the other side, at least theyre still talking. What is it that Robert Mueller wants from the president that he cant really get any other way than sitting down facetoface with him . You know, so chris, at first when i heard that bob mueller might be willing to either, you know, reduce the scope of the questions he wants to ask the president or even propose them in writing. I thought that doesnt sound like the bob mueller i worked for. The more i thought about it, i think he may have concluded that its in his tactical interest to, for example, offer some written questions to the president. And heres why. Lets assume that one of the written questions to the president is, did you ask Director Comey to lay off mike
flynn . There are only two answers to that. If the president answers no, bob mueller may very well prove thats a lie and the president has earned himself a crime, false statement, as part of a federal investigation that could earn him up to five years. But what if he says yes, i did. That could be evidence that he committed Obstruction Of Justice. You argue even though facetoface may be preferable and weve heard all the stories about how they could trap him, its not necessarily necessary . You know, its not, and i have a feeling if mueller decides to put these questions in writing and he pushes that sheet of paper across the table figuratively to the defense, they may look at it, push it right back and say well take a pass. The president obviously wants this investigation to end. Republicans as were hearing from Garrett Haake want this investigation to end. But is there any way you see it ending without the president of the United States giving his input, whether its in writing
it doesnt it does not consistent with the principle of no man is above the law and yet that is what were hearing from the president s advisers. What we heard all day from the president s lawyers yesterday was the argument that when he was tweeting about Jeff Sessions, it was just an opinion and the investigation should end again, i dont know, katelyn, did anything they say make any sense . Did they make their case . The fact they had to parse the president s own words several times yesterday i think speaks volumes. It also is important against the backdrop of reporting from the New York Times that Robert Mueller is looking at the president s tweets in this body of evidence and documents in terms of this investigation. The president is obviously upset with Jeff Sessions. Hes made that known over the past several months. This was the first real director. Of Course Rosenstein is in charge of this investigation. The question is Jeff Sessions almost seems to
be used to it, right . Hes almost kind of i dont want to say hes baiting him, hes not. Hes sort of trying in a vague way to respond. When you look at rod rosensteins Public Comments and pea havior, theyre really telling in which in terms of the confidence they have in this investigation, even as the president tries to denigrate them and his entire Justice Department really. You can kind of see where they stand on this. So denigrating his entire Justice Department but also putting his Communications Team in a situation where they have to, frankly, contradict what has been said in the past. I want to play what sean spicer said way back when about the president ial tweets last year. And then Sarah Sanders just yesterday. Are President Trumps tweets considered official white house statements . Well, the president is the president of the United States, so theyre considered official statements by the president of
the United States. Does that tweet this morning change your posture about the president . Its not an order, its the president s opinion. And then, glen, you have Rudy Giuliani saying the president used the word should, not must, as we pointed out. Legally speaking, does the president s tweet carry any weight when it comes to the question of Obstruction Of Justice . Let me tell you how the rules of evidence would apply to the president s tweets. Theres a rule called statement of party opponents. All that is, when we have a defendant in court, anything that defendant said, anything he wrote, anything he tweeted, is considered his statement that the prosecutors can introduce as evidence against him. And whether Sarah Huckabee sanders tries to walk it back or mr. Giuliani tries to walk it back, guess what, those walkbacks are not admissible in a court of law, but the president s tweets are. And they are telling when he says things like, you know, ag
sessions should stop this witch hunt. That sure sounds pretty direct to me. Ned, do you think the president undermined his own case by going after sessions yesterday . Well, hes undermined his own case all along. Hes undermined his case and hes also once again underscored his ignorance of the whole process, going after Jeff Sessions, who is recused from this matter. Look, President Trump has a strategy, a strategy he has followed since the onset of this probe. And that seems to be to get ahead of where this is going. It seems to be a strategy of trying to proactively discredit bob mueller to try to proactively discredit bob muellers team, knowing that this team is working on a report that must likely will be submitted to congress at which Point Congress will have to enter a verdict. What President Trump seems to be doing with all of this, by going after Jeff Sessions, by going after rosenstein, by going after
mccabe, by going after mueller, by going after anyone else who has touched this ongoing criminal probe is to try to make this into an empty vessel before its even completed. So when it is presented to trumps allies in congress, they will just shrug it off. They will say this is the work of bob mueller and his 13 angry democrats, quote unquote. If you look at how Congressional Republicans have responded to these threats with a shrug. That is exactly what President Trump has said all along. Let me ask you really quickly. We heard Rudy Giuliani. I dont want to leave this out. Say yesterday this election is going to be about impeachment or no impeachment. Is he right . Well, republicans are talking a lot about impeachment and congressional races as kind of a boogie man of sorts. Warning their base that if democrats take over the house, theyre going to move to impeach the president. Youve also heard garrett mention republicans on capitol
hill want to get this wrapped up quickly because they dont want it to be an issue. Ive talked to republican campaigns and candidates who are running in this cycle who are echoing the president s own words, evoking the idea this is a witch hunt and they think this kind of rallies their base, that they see themselves as kind of in this fight with the president against the powers that are trying to defy him and his agenda. Saying this is all part of the pr strategy. The strategy to sway public opinion, especially heading into a midterm election. All right, well, fantastic panel. Katelyn, its your birthday, as great as this has been, i hope theres something thats even going to top it later today. Thank you. Happy birthday. Thank you. Happy birthday to you. Ned price, thanks to you guys as well. Come see us on your birthdays as well. Coming up, Paul Manaforts trial, his lavish lifestyle, front and center. We just learned this morning Robert Mueller wants to keep it that way. A live report next. First, late nights jimmy fa ymn on how President Trump is influencing art. An artive recr iviv ivist re trump crossing the swamp. Here. What actually inspired a lot of other artists to make trump inspired versions of other famous paintings. This first one is based on the scream. Its called screaming at the tv when giuliani is on. As you and your rheumatologist consider treatments, ask if xeljanz xr is right for you. Xeljanz xr is a oncedaily pill for psoriatic arthritis. Taken with methotrexate or similar medicines, it can reduce joint pain, swelling, and significantly improve physical function. Xeljanz xr can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, lymphoma, and other cancers have happened. Dont start xeljanz xr if you have an infection. Tears in the stomach or intestines, low blood cell counts, and higher liver tests and cholesterol levels have happened. Your doctor should perform blood tests before you start and while taking xeljanz xr, and monitor certain liver tests. Tell your doctor if you were in a region where fungal infections are common, and if you have had tb, hepatitis b or c, or are prone to infections. Xeljanz xr can reduce the symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. Dont let another morning go by without talking to your rheumatologist about xeljanz xr. Are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. What a development overnight in the bank and Tax Fraud Case against Paul Manafort. Asking the judge to reconsider a decision and let them show the jury photos of manaforts 25,000 suits and other luxury goods. Day three of the trial about to get under way after whats already been two days filled with engrossing details. Prosecutors clashing with the judge and in a surprising even fascinating twist, a major revelation yesterday about a key witness. And, yes, we even got to see the now infamous ostrich jacket. Nbcs intelligence and National Security reporter ken dilanian joins us live. Tell us about your reporting that the prosecution is pushing for the judge to let them show the jury these photos because they had manaforts lavish
lifestyle on full display yesterday. Thats right, chris, good morning. Overnight, the mueller team filed a Brief Arguing that the judge is wrong when he is excluding them from admitting into evidence photos of manaforts lavish lifestyle. There was a photo that the fbi took during the search of his condo of closets full of these expensive suits that they wanted to put in and the judge blocked them. The judge said, look, manaforts not on trial for being rich. His livish lifestyle could be prejudice. Youre seeing there are some pictures of suits that were submitted, but there are many things prosecution sought to admit yesterday that the judge blocked. They wanted to show a picture of his lavish pool house at one of his mansions in the hamptons that he spent 3 million renovating and the reason this is important, chris, all these expenditures was made with money wired from foreign banks in cyprus, that the prosecution
says was set up for the express purpose of manafort evading taxes. He said on his tax returns he did not have Foreign Bank Accounts. This is relevant to show he lied and also relevant to show he needed these funds, he needed to do this bank fraud and tax fraud to support this really lavish lifestyle. He cited a number of cases to support their argument. Now were going to have to see how the judge, whos very sure of his own rulings, reacts to this. I want to ask about the other big highlight from yesterday, the blockbuster that rick gates may not even take the stand . Yes, the jurys really out on that. The prosecutor did raise the possibility that gates wouldnt testify. A lot of people i talked to still think he will. The prosecutions main point is while the defense wants to portray gates as the star witness, the prosecution does
not consider him a star witness. They were prepared to make this case without gates. They indicted manafort and gates together initially. They have two dozen witnesses and hundreds of documents. Their position is, look, this is documents prove this case. Gates is nice to have to lead the jury through this because he was Paul Manaforts righthand man. Hes admitting he participated in some of these fraughts. The prosecution is seeking to rebut this argument that it was all gates fault. And he was responsible for the tax evasion, the bank fraud. In fact, most of the evidence weve seen so far, chris, the witnesses have never even heard of rick gates. These were transactions that were Paul Manafort paid them from Foreign Bank Accounts for luxury goods. I know youll be reporting for us throughout the day from alexandria, thanks, appreciate it. President trump upping the ante in his trade war, threatening new tariffs, china calling it blackmail and vowing to retaliate. The potential impact on you, next. But first, Vice President
pence joining veterans at pearl harbor in hawaii, at a ceremony to receive the presumed remains of solar judge diers killed in n war. What the Trump Administration said was a fulfillment of a pledge made during President Trumps meeting with kim jongun. Identifying the remains could take years. To these Great American heroes, fallen so long ago, today as a nation we breathe a word of thanks for your service and sacrifice. And we say to you as one people with one voice, welcome home. Dont start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. Since enbrel, dads back to being dad. Visit enbrel. Com and use the joint Damage Simulator to see how your joint damage could be progressing. Ask about enbrel. Enbrel. Fda approved for over 15 years. That would impact 10,000 items traded around the world. The list could grow to target almost 90 of what china sent to the u. S. Last year. That means average americans pay more for groceries, cigarettes, handbags, furniture, you name it. Politico chief economic correspondent and cnbc contributor ben white. So lets start with the bottom line, kayla. For the average american what should they be looking at what can they expect, what can the significance overall be of this . Were looking at the dow dropping right now, down 124, 125. Well, so big companies, chris, that import things that are made in china like handbags for instance or frozen fish, those prices are going to go up at the border if the Trump Administration does decide at the end of august, early september, to more than double these proposed tariffs. Its something the president has asked the agency that is studying these tariffs to look
into. It essentially encapsulates an escalation between the u. S. And china. These trade talks have not been productive. The administration wants stronger tools. And that could play out not only in the Grocery Store and the department store, bu