Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. Former Chief Of Staff at the cia and at the pentagon. Robert, i would like to begin with you. What is the degree to which the trump camp was Caught Off Guard by just the idea of 30 hours of don mcgahn testimony in front of the special counsel . Its not tonight trump camp Caught Off Guard. It was mcgahn himself a year ago who was found this whole strategy by john dowd and ty cobb, the president s lawyers, to be off. Mcgahn didnt agree with the Cooperation Strategy when it came to the mueller probe. He advised against it. He went along with the cooperation, setting the over 1 million documents from the white house and offering his time. In fact, i saw mcgahn go into muellers Office Around 6 00 a. M. One morning when i was staking it out. He was fully cooperative then and ever since. Theres some reporting. Hey, joyce, cobb and dowd, their decision to waive
during a similar investigation. So a little bit of an interesting mislocation of the viewpoints here. Lets talk about what mcgahn may have been around for, what he may have witnessed, and reminding our viewers, he is not only a lawyer but white house counsel. That makes his value extreme as a witness before the mueller prosecutors. Thats right. The oath that don mcgahn swore when he took the office was to the constitution and to the rule of law. Not to donald trump personally. So his duty of loyalty runs to the office, to the institution of the presidency as noted. What has he been around for . First when sally yates in january 2017, right after the inauguration, came to the white house and said that Michael Flynn had laid to fbi investigators, she made report directly to don mcgahn. So he was in the room when those
issues were discussed with the president. He was in the room when the comey firing was discussed. And finally, he would have been privilegy to conversations about the cover story trying to explain that the Trump Tower Moegt was not a meeting with the russian government over the election. Well play the moment heard from around the world on Meet The Press this weekend. Well talk about it on the other side. Im not going to be rushed into having him testify so he gets trapped into perjury. When you tell me that she testify because he will tell the truth and he should not worry, thats so silly. It is somebodys version of the truth. Not the truth. He didnt have a conversation truth is truth. I dont mean no. Truth isnt truth. So rob, is that just the era weve entered where the president s lawyer can go on television and say things without consequence . Of course, brian. It is a bizarre statement. Putting that aside and acknowledging it for what it is, it is more revealing about how the Trump Legal Team feels about the comey firing. Theyre uncomfortable, publicly about having the president sit down for an interview with rob mueller to talk through president s intend. Was it corrupt . Was it criminal . Thats what the mueller people have wanted to find out for months. And giuliani is already contesting that. But julie does not know the extent that witnesses have said and what went on inside the white house and Different Things about the president s intend. When he says truth is truth, he is saying he doesnt want to go up against comeys version of the story but there are more versions than just comey. As a fellow lawyer, when you hear an attorney use a phrase like that, your reaction . It tells me that he knows his client doesnt have a
traditional legal defense. They wont be able to offer when bob mueller finally produces his report, or perhaps a new batch of indictments, they wont be able to say the facts are being alleged are untrue. It appears thats a near certainty. So instead theyll to have fall back on a defense of the mueller team is corrupt when you cant believe anything about facts. There is no longer any rational truthful it is all a he said, she said. This is a dangerous place to be. Our courts are uniquely suited to ferrit it out. Thats what prosecutors do for a living, thats what giuliani did for a living. Now hes just reduced to shilling for a president who may not have a leg to stand on at the end of the day. Where do you think the
president got the idea he could run the Mueller Investigation . And how would that work exactly . Well, he has, i think, a constitutionally inappropriate sense of the presidency. He believes basically presidency cannot be constrained by law. Of course, thats antithetical to american tradition and he can do this in numerous ways. One of the ways we need to be concerned about, brian, is that the president could try to strip the Security Clearances of bob mueller and his investigators. Of course, they hold those Security Clearances because theyre conducting a Counter Intelligence investigation. They have to have access to information. It is a way the president could try purport to undermine the investigation. There was an effort on the hill at this hour led by senator mark warner of virginia. The Vice Chairman of the committee to pre strength president from doing just that. And i want to read this tweet from the president over the weekend. Study late Joseph Mccarthy. We are now in a period with mueller and his gang that makes Joseph Mccarthy look like a baby. Rigged witch hunt. What would it look like if republicans on the hill reared up and said, enough. What would it look like if the president pulled a few more critical Security Clearances, for example . At this point, brian, based on my reporting, the republican party, theyre fully with President Trump ahead of the midterm elections to drag them across the finish line as they face possible blue wave. At this point some people are privately grumbling if the president moves on mueller or rosenstein, they will speak up. So far the notable people speaking up are those who have chosen to retire or those who have decided to leave office. And joyce, what should we glean from mr. Cohens silence of late . What are the chances the decision to participate, to
flip, has already been made and that is underway . Cohen was initially pretty loud. We learned an awful lot from his public statements. He certainly didnt make any effort to sequester himself after his home and office were searched. So what weve seen, there virtual Radio Silence coming from cohen would seem to signal he is either in the process of negotiating with prosecutors, trying to come up with a cooperation agreement, or they have actually reached a cooperation agreement. That would be a good explanation for his dropping off of the public radar screen. Interesting stuff tonight and a lot of it. Our thanks. And coming up on a monday night, truth isnt truth, is the sound bite that made the headlines. There was Something Else that rudy said that flew in the face of the facts right there on the printed page. And later, an uncomfortable
conversation with a young writer ready to become part of the national conversation. As The 11th Hour is just Getting Started on a monday night. This wifi is fast. Hes only going to be here for like a week. Like a month, tops. Oh boy. Wifi fast enough for the whole family is simple, easy, awesome. In many cultures, young men would stay with their families until their 40s. President trumps legal team is working hard to spin the 2016 trump tower meeting between russians and key members of the Trump Campaign, including but not limited to, his son. On sunday, among other things, Rudolph Giuliani said that trumps team did not know that
natalia veselnitskaya was russian before the meeting took place, nor that she was connected to the russian government. Any meeting with regard to getting information on your point is something any Candidate Staff would take. If someone said, i have information about your point, you would take that meeting. From the russian government . She didnt represent the russian government. Shes a private citizen. I dont even know if they knew she was russian at the time. All they had was her name. I think they knew she was russian. Well, they knew when it they met with her. Not when they set up the meeting. You asked me, did they have any intention to meet with russians . They just knew she had a russian name. Shes not a representative of the russian government so this is much ado about nothing. Lets read the email, again, from a guy named Rob Goldstone to donald trump jr. Setting up the meeting. The Crown Prosecutor of russia offered to provide the Trump Campaign some official documents is that information that would incriminate hillary and her dealings with russia, and would be very useful to your father. He goes on to write, this is obviously very high level and sensitive information. But is part of this, might as well be in all capital letters, russia and its governments support for mr. Trump. Djtj, donald trump jr. , replied minutes later, if its what you say, i love it. Especially later in the summer. We have asked our guests to rush to our conversation. Jeremy, just remind us the short list of facts versus myth. All dating back to this one fateful meeting. One myth was that it was just a meeting with don jr. No, it was a meeting with the
entire Senior High Command of the trump organizations campaign. It was a meeting with don jr. , with paul manafort, the campaign chairman, and jared kushner. Second myth was this was just one lone lawyer to talk about adoptions. No, it was a russian government delegation. It was a meeting with multiple players, all of whom had significant ties to the russian government, and they came with specific they came to say that they intended to utilize the information that they had stolen through cyber attacks. They intended to weaponize and it interfere in the 2016 election. Then for some reason because they didnt bring the documents to the meeting and they didnt actually do any specific collusion or conspiracy across the table, that somehow that wasnt conspiracy. Of course, thats not how it was set up. It was them coming on behalf of the russian government to say well be doing this and in response we want sanctions relief which is exactly what they ended up getting. And what happened next . Donald trump mentioned those emails after they were released in october. 150 times. An average of five times a day. It was a central part of his Closing Argument as part of the final 30 days of the president ial campaign. And there again we get on read the email from this goldstone who is kind of a barney character from overseas, laying out the stakes of the meeting. I know the feds have the equivalent of blinders and bose head phones in muellers office. What must they make, however, of these repeated and different attempts at Cover Stories for the meeting . Its never good when youre always trying to come one a cover story. And especially when the Cover Stories are all centered around this one meeting in trump tower. There is this sort of progressive truth telling as the truth begins to come out. It really makes it look like there is something to bhid this meeting. But the reality, brian, is there is not a lot to hide. The emails really tell the story. There is a federal law that makes it illegal for a foreigner to provide assistance to a United States campaign by means of a donation or a contribution and that is pretty much the story that this email tells. It says not just a russian citizen but actually someone linked to the Crown Prosecutor wants to present dirt on Hillary Clinton as a donation to the Trump Campaign. And three senior members of that campaign eagerly take that meeting. This is a lot less an email chain ander month like a long loading, smoking gun. I think this is a very good piece of evidence for the mueller team. Jeremie, you have to love the hollywood inspired wording of taking meeting. When giuliani said anyone would have 15 meeting, what is your answer to that . No way. Ive worked on president ial campaigns. There is no way you sit down with a Foreign Governmentdelegation and they offer to attack the election, interfere, interseed, play a role and then you say okay, well take and it then you act on it. That never happens. Thats not normal. Thats not just taking opposition research. If you were the lawyer for donald jr. , how much potential exposure would you be warning your client about, exactly . He has a lot of exposure here. It will come down to his State Of Mind and his level of knowledge. But the emails in and of themselves are very important detail. And then we have the efforts to cover up the meeting. So it doesnt look great for him. From this point of view. And i think one of the issues, quite frankly, is whether or not prosecutors will view this as an independent pact theyll charge. Because this particular statute is not frequently used. But this is a relatively egregious case involving not
just a foreigner but representatives of a Foreign Government itself. Thanks for sticking around. Sometimes our first segment is not enough. We appreciate it. Comment up, the president says he hasnt given a lot of thought about pulling muellers Ask Security Clearance but he grabbed for a giant shiny object once again when we come back. My Digestive System used to make me feel sluggish but now, i take metamucil every day. It traps and removes the waste that weighs me down, so i feel lighter. Try metamucil, and begin to feel what lighter feels like. I think this is yet another example of his egregious use of power and authority. Just because he has the ability to revoke ones clearance doesnt mean that he is doing it for the appropriate reasons. If my clearances and my reputation as im being pulled through the mud now, if thats the price were going to pay to prevent donald trump from doing this against other people, to me it is a small price to pay. So i am going to do whatever i can personally to try on prevent these abuses in the future. If it means going to court, i will do that. The former craft director john brennan as you heard, mulling legal action after his Security Clearance was pulled by the president who doubled down on this today. Quote, i hope john brennan, the worst cia director in our countrys history, brings a lawsuit. It will then be able to get his
records, texts, emails, and documents to show not only the poor job he did but how he was involved with the mueller rigged witch hunt. He wont sue. The Associated Press sums up trumps actions. With tweets and taunts, President Trump is attempting to turn one of his most outspoken critics into the public face of the russia probe that he has long worked to discredit. Over 175 current and former intel officials have now come out in favor of the john brennan and against this practice of pulling clearances. Still the Washington Post is reporting the white house is drafting more clearance cancellations, demanded by trump. With us to talk about it tonight. The White House Reporter for the Associated Press. And we bring back the reporter for the guardian. Welcome to you both. Just tonight, phil mudd, career cia officer was in a debate
segment on cnn. The president didnt like it, tweeted against him and is asking aloud whether or not his clearance should be revoked on twitter. Are we all going after this giant shiny object of Security Clearance . This is the president s new toy. He is certainly drawn to things. So frustrated with how washington works, even with controlling both houses of congress, the members of his own staff telling him no. Much like president ial pardons, hes realized Security Clearances can revoked by him alone. Just remember his order The Strip Brennans was actually drafted multiple weeks before it was issued. Brennans is more complicated. Sometimes with this president , it is hard to know what is strategic. He has long had a problem with brennan. He has long had a vendetta against him for quite some time. This president is sensitive to anyone who publicly criticizes him. Particularly on television. So thats part of it. The other part is he realize thats brennan with his attachment to the deep state, with his ties to the russia probe, could be a useful foil here. Someone else he could attack. A proxy for going after the Mueller Investigation. And brennan who has been a very outspoken critics, trump has told people around him, he thinks the credibility has been shot. If he links brennan to mueller, that helps him attack credibility of the investigation. Regardless of what else is said about mr. Brennan, he is at heart a long time, many decades public servant. And i know you wanted to come on tonight and make a point about public servants. Well, i think what weve seen from President Trump is an effort to cast some of these
former top intelligence and Law Enforcement officials. When you look at james clammer, mic