Its conclusion. Im david gura. Ill be back at 2 00 3 00 saturday and sunday of next week. You can find me on instagram and twitter at david gura between now and then for the promised conversation about collusion. I turn things over to my colleague, yasmin vossoughian. Hello, im yasmin vossoughian. Family matters. A new tweet from President Trump raising serious questions about his sons 2016 meeting with a russian lawyer. The changing story and how it could impact the mueller probe. Will he or wont he . The trump teams Cliffhanger On Whether the president will speak to the special counsel. A decision think come this week, although weve been saying that for weeks. How that historic meeting could play out. And a red wave. President trump suggesting republicans will Win Big League if they make the mid terms a referendum on him. Do democrats have a clear enough message to counter the president s rhetoric . Lots to cover, he have beeevery. Here we go. The problem here is that now he and his son are really in the crosshairs. Its very clear, the president has just said that that meeting was to get dirt on an opponent. The real question here is, would a meeting of that nature constitute a violation the meeting itself constitute a violation of the law . I think theres plenty of evidence of collusion or conspiracy in plain sight. The question is, how would it be illegal . This is the noose tightening very, very, very much around Donald Trumps neck, and the neck of his son. Another weekend, another tweet storm, everybody. Just one day off the Washington Post reporting the president was privately fuming over the mueller investigation. The president , he took it public, surprise, surprise. Firing off half a dozen tweets in the early hours of the morning. I guess his Golf Game Hadnt Got Going quite yet. Attacking the press, defending his son, and rewriting history
Yasmin Vossoughian hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Yasmin Vossoughian hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Theyre a witness. So tweets and political rhetoric in the courtroom is really kind of disregarded as not as credible. But, of course, were talking about public opinion. This is a new age where we put everything on social media. There has to be some precedence set. And i think that were going to get those precedents with President Trump. Because this is the first time weve had a president or anyone of his stature using this as a public forum. So i think that were going to get a lot of precedence. Do we have it right now . Right now its gray. Its vague. You know, again, twitter is a private company. Its not considered a public. Which is a whole another story. Right. So these four years are going to be precedentsetting, not only with the law, but evidence in the courtroom, how we explain it, how we even put it into evidence. Even with the manafort trial. These things are cases of first impression. So now we are setting the precedent. Its not just tweets. We also have lies, right . What we have do we . We do. We absolutely do. Do we . Do tell, my friend. Our political opponent from russia. So theres one more thing conspiracy. To commit what illegal act. On trial, my friend. To take the white house thats what im saying. Foreign adversary. Again, its very broad. Youre not allowed to steal the presidency. Youre not allowed to cheat to win it. Those are illegal things. Thats what conspiracy means. Youre not going to get that conclusion out of tweets, is what im saying. Do we have specific evidence and facts and thats an opinion. If youre don, jr. , youre not happy your father just said you took that meeting for that purpose. There was a reason they lied in the first place. We already knew that by the way. Let me bring up one more thing. Sekulow is telling us, from what we understand, don, jr. , has not been interviewed by mueller yet, evan. What does that say . Does that mean an indictment for the president s son, eldest son, is in the pipeline . And by the way, we know kushner has been interviewed twice. To me it says that mueller and again, im not an attorney. But common sense would say that
mueller looks at don, jr. As somebody who may have significant legal vulnerability, given his actions. And he is worth putting off for now, because there are a bunch of people to interview first, because theyre investigating don junior, because potentially don junior could be a target. If you were don juniors attorney, would you make sure he was ramping up all efforts to defend the possible indictment in the future . Again, with the obstruction of justice, its really very broad and you need specific intent. And federal courts are really split on that. As an attorney, you can only advise them so much. The first thing i would say is Everybody Needs to be quiet and shut up and stop tweeting. Hello i mean, as an attorney, thats the first thing you tell somebody. Is be quiet. But you have to understand with both the conspiracy and also the obstruction and im speaking as an attorney here, as if it were a client. Yeah. They are very broad, and you can say theyre lies, but you
have to give the witness or defendant an opportunity to explain. Mueller is not going to sit down until he has all his ducks in a row, all his information a row. Because he knows when he sits down with him hes going to have an attorney, right . So you want to squeeze, which is what every investigator does, i think evan would agree with me. Youre going get all of the information and squeeze it from other people, give them immunity and get the information. Because don junior is not going to say, yeah, i did it. So heres what weve got to get to now. Is the president s admission, everybody, about that Trump Tower Meeting going to impact his potential sitdown with bob mueller . Its a highstakes negotiation going on right now before our eyes. Were going to be right back. You know how painful heartburn can be. For fastacting, longlasting relief, try doctor recommended gaviscon. It quickly neutralizes stomach acid and helps keep acid down for hours. Relieve heartburn with fast acting, longlasting gaviscon. Unless they can satisfy us that there is some basis for this investigation. We havent made a final decision. There is still a slight opening. Were still im not going to give you a lot of hope its going to happen. We havent stopped negotiating. Already hearing some sighs. I feel like you guys are geared up and ready to go. But i want to play jay sekulow he was really doing the tour this morning on abc once again, talking about whether the president wants to sit down with mueller, even though we just heard Rudy Guiliani says that, you know, they have got to prove it to him whether or not hes going to sit down. Lets watch. The president has been clear that he wants to interview. I will tell you, his legal team is concerned. A subpoena for live testimony has never been tested in court as to a president of the United States and theres a lot of language, articles and precedent against that. But if that decision is made, well prepare to handle it in court. So it seems as if hes saying we want to take it all the way
up to the Supreme Court if, in fact, that happens, karen. You know, its interesting. Because one of the things that i always do with my client is its a strategy, right . Throw me under the bus. Im the bad guy, im the one telling you, right, that i dont want you to do this. All right . So you can say to everyone that you want to testify. That you want to give testimony. Im telling you as your attorney i dont want to do it. So you can tell everybody and throw me under the bus and say its your attorney who doesnt want you to do it. And it seems like thats Whats Going On here. Right . The president wants to listen, hes the president of the United States. He wants the citizens of the United States or is this, you know, a defense strategy. And its something that attorneys do auto of the time. Im the bad guy. Tell them you have an attorney. Tell them you really want to talk to them. But your attorney wont let you. So is this a sekulow guiliani good guy bad guy situation . Its a good strategy. The reason this has never been tested, other president s submit themselves to the rule of
law. It would be shocking for a president to refuse to assist and cooperate with an investigation into whether or not a foreign country meddled with our election. Now, thats i say that as an american. As a person with legal training, i would look at a invitation to sit down and talk with mueller like it was a wedding invitation from the phrase. Theres no way trump should sit down if he can possibly avoid it. But that doesnt make it a good thing. Right. Heres the thing, though. This president is different. Than other leaders that we have had in this country. And i say that, because he consistently contradicts himself as we saw on twitter. It seems to me as if that is the exact reason as to why his Legal Counsel would not want him to sit down with mueller. Because he could very well talk himself into a corner. He certainly doesnt seem to understand the facts around him. He forgets what hes done. He forgets what hes said. He doesnt care. He would be the worst possible im not an attorney, but i cant imagine something
more frightening than having that as a client going to sit in front of mueller. But i want to go back to something that sekulow said, where he suggested that he would take this all the way to the Supreme Court. Because Something Else very important is happening side by side with the mueller investigation. And that is the attempt to nominate Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Oh, no, right . We know so much about brett cavanaugh. And one of the things that just came out in the last couple of weeks is how much he believes, after his own experience with ken starr and the Clinton White house, he believes that a sitting president should not be investigated, cannot be indicted, should not be compelled to have exactly the kind of meeting were talking about right now. So should he manage to ram this nomination through and sit this man on the court before or while this decision has to be made, he knows that he has just given a Lifetime Appointment to a justice who is going to side with him that he shouldnt have to be involved in any of this. Thats really the question here, evan. Is will kavanaugh get into this seat before this goes down the
road in which trump is sitting down with mueller and could talk himself into a corner. Thats clearly that would be to the president s advantage, if he is sitting in place. Based on comments that kavanaugh has made, i think so. Or at least there is a reason to believe that. But, look, i think we would be fools to believe that the president actually wants to sit down with mueller. We would be fools absolutely. The president does what the president wants to do. And routinely, the president is told, dont say this, dont congratulate, dont do this, dont do that. And he does it anyway. But is he a man who thinks that everything he says is right. Yeah, but look part of me thinks he wants he thinks explain himself out of this situation. I know thats been reported. I have a hard time buying it. I think the president is somebody who understands power dynamics. And hes a narcissist and he has Impulse Control and all of these things. But he has some areas of ill say it genius that he uses for evil. And one of those things is
understanding power dynamics. And bullies are often like this. But they understand when theyre facing someone who is more powerful than them, for a variety of reasons. I believe trump understands that mueller is more powerful than he is, on a variety of levels. And i dont think he wants to be interviewed. I think the strategy is delay this beyond the mid terms so you dont end up with chances are a little better, maybe, you dont end up with a democratic house. And then you force the issue to the Supreme Court and you hope you come out on top. You know what, im glad you picked up the mid terms, because guess what, everybody . Coming up around the corner. Striking to spark a red wave, or at least fend off a blue one maybe for the reason that evan just brought up. Trump says he would hold rallies six or seven days a week if he could. Well, he can. Hes the president. But are his appearances on the road helping . Thats the big question. Well be right back. vo why do subaru forester
gives you the strongest hold ever to lock your dentures. So now you can eat tough food without worry. Fixodent and forget it. Were in a small room. What . welcome. [ gasps ] a bigger room . how many of you use Car Insurance . Oh. Well, what if i showed you this . [ laughing ] hohoho wow. Its a computer. We compare rates to help you get the price and coverage thats right for you. Thats amazing the only thing that would make this better is if my mom were here. What . an unexpected ending with pg e in the sierras. And im an arborist is if my mom were here. Since the onset of the drought, more than 129 Million Trees have died in california. Pg e prunes and removes over a Million Trees every year to ensure that Hazardous Trees cant impact power lines. And since the onset of the drought weve doubled our efforts. I grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly its heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. What guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. You know, theyre talking about this blue wave. [ booing ] i dont think so. Look, if the democrats get in, theyre going to raise your
taxes. Youre going to have crime all over the place. Youre going to have people pouring across the border. Why would that be a blue wave . I think it could be a red wave. Ill tell you what. Really, i think it should be a red wave. [ cheers and applause ] but youve got to get out and do it. There you go. President trump in this ohio, his Third Campaign rally in the past week, trying to rally his base to keep republicans in control of congress this november. He was there in support of troy balderson, a candidate in tuesdays special election for a vacant house seat. Polls show the seat could flip to democrats for the first time in decades, everybody. The president suggested that republican candidates should embrace the fact the mid terms are a referendum on his leadership. Joining my panel, noelle nickpore. Lets bring out that polling once again. Troy balderson at 44 . Danny oconnor at 43 . Troy balderson had a much wider lead. Yep. And then we had ten points last month, from what i believe. And then we have this rally last night. What was interesting to me in this rally is that the president does not sort of go on his russian tirade as hes been doing for the last week or so. He doesnt he attacks the media, but not to the extent hes been doing in the last week. Talk about why you think the president did that last night . Was there something behind it . I think he knows its serious. I think he knows that he had better keep the house and im sure he thinks other races are serious, as well. Yeah, but i think that he is focused in it really hard on this. If you look at some of the states, especially ohio, this is a pivotal state. This is something that he needs to keep in check. Lo look at another race. Weve got ted cruz. This is a solid republican that is now leaning republican. This is very interesting. Everything is a little topsyturvy. And i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that not so
much the gop, but i think you guys might even agree with me for once. But its the trump brand, though. We are dealing with the trump brand. Is the trump brand popular. This really doesnt have much to do with the gop. Because if you look at what happened after he won the election, there was a power struggle. There is the gop, and ive said this before, like the Old Gray Elephant sitting there, you know, with their platform. And then theres donald trump. Donald trump was never, you know, down the halls. You didnt hear his name at the rnc like lets approach this guy for this and this. He really just kind of came on to the scene, and the gop had to adopt donald trump. Yeah. This was not status quo. So this is why youre seeing such a shakeup. Go ahead. Its just such a shakeup. And another thing that a lot of people are not used to, youre its a catch22. And this is why i stammer around a lot. Because its hard to find words
to match what i feel about all of it sometimes. Because you have got donald trump sending out tweets when his white house or the administration is on all of the same page. Were all everyone is on the same page. He will wake up and tweet something out, and it will change and negate everything that they decided on earlier. So everybody is all the pundits, all the republican pundits russia Election Meddling. Its very strange right now. Lets talk about the president suggesting, evan that republican candidates should embrace the fact that the mid terms are a referendum on his leadership. So if i hear the president suggesting that, i think that hes saying embrace me. Because you need to support me, and i will get you the votes you need to get you over the line to either keep your seat or win the seat, right . Thats right. To a certain extent, you could also have republicans go in the other direction and say, oh, if this is a referendum on your leadership, maybe i need to do a moral check for myself. Right. That could not serve him well. Yeah. Look, i think this is the
situation although i know hes hoping it would be the latter. Of course, he is. Hes sort of the future of his life depends on it. Yeah. The quality of it, at least. But, look. This is the quandary that republicans in competitive districts face. They cant be nominated without being trumpy, without embracing trump. Even the ones who dont like trump, they shouldnt embrace him, but for political purposes, many do, because they cant be nominated really without that. But then once they get to the general election, they cant win that way. Yeah. And so ive got this going on right now. Th