Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell

That all happening all at once. Maybe its a coincidence, maybe thats what happens when the charges start to get filed. They all interrelate. They must be at least some level read into whats going on in muellers shop, we would hope. This all looks like its designed to protect donald trump. Not get at the meat and potatoes of what russia did to us. I feel like so much of what were seeing is it to protect donald trump i dont know maybe im a little paranoid thinking that is disturbing. None of us are naive. But the part of it that i have been a little bit dismayed by is that its one thing for people who are partisans of the trump administration or who are republicans and see it as their job to defend the president , to say, you know what, this collusion thing didnt happen. What russia did was terrible. We are against that. But Dont Try To Drag Donald Trump into this, dont try youre saying that he was involved in this to try to undercut his election. He won his election fair and square. And what the russians did was something separate. What has started to happen now, is that the white house in particular is really trying to get away with saying the russians did nothing wrong. Thats right. And theyre doing that at the same time Rex Tillerson is dissolving the sanctions department, that the white house is dragging its feet bringing sanctions against russia. And if were going to protect ourselves from russia, continuing to do this. The department of homeland security, dod and lots of other organizations ought to be well down the road in terms of protecting us, and theyre not. That surrender to what russia has done, thats a patriotism thing, not a partisanship thing, thats the part that makes me sad. Its not sunday, but you can get an amen on that, sister. Thank you very much. I will look forward to my besaturdays elled time machine. I am joy reid in for lawrence odonnell. We begin with that Breaking News. Cnn reporting that according to two sources briefed on the matter, the first charges have been filed in the Investigation Led by Robert Mueller, the charges are apparently still sealed under orders from a federal judge. We dont know who the charges are against, and we dont know what the charges are. Nbc news has not confirmed this report, and no other News Organization has confirmed it either. We can only go by what cnn is saying at the moment. A federal grand jury approved the actions. Joining us now. Chief of staff to janet reno. David korn from mother jones. And natasha bertrand. Shes been closely following russias involvement in the 2016 u. S. President ial election. Im going to start with you, natasha. Does it feel like this might be, rather than the beginning of the story, maybe the crest of a story that began 48 hours or so ago, when we started to hear this alternate Collusion Theory . Absolutely. This puts into context all of the distractions, that weve been getting out of the republicans over the last week. And aided by the president this morning, now we know theres no collusion between donald trump and russia, its all Hillary Clinton. The Uranium Story that mysteriously disappeared after 11 years. This is foreshadowing something big to come. The fact that mueller is filing these charges, hes moving quickly to get someone to flip prosecutors dont normally do charges this early in an investigation. The idea that if this investigation is wrapping up, it does impact the investigations that are going on in the house and in particular in the senate. Where they seem to be a bit more serious, at least on the Senate Intelligence side. What do you expect staffers to be talking about tonight on that senate side. Yeah, i think staffers and everyone are saying, who, who, who, who, who. Well see who winds up being taken into custody next week as a result of this indictment. Its a possibility that its its also important to know, that the Special Counsel has really been given the per view to examine any issue that arises in the investigation. And we do know that in the course of investigating the trump russia scandal, the Special Counsel had reason to look at lobbying activities by paul pan in a for the. Activities that may be related to michael fwlin. Theres a lot to choose from for those who care to speculate. I also would say that after this week of distraction. Going back and looking at Hillary Clintons uranium deal, which wasnt her goal. Going back and looking at how james comey dealt with the clinton email server controversy, nothing cuts through distractions like indictments. Whatever is going on in the House Intelligence Committee looks like a circus. I reported last week, they barely have enough staff to do what they say theyre doing. The Senate Judiciary committee has blown up. Indictments will intoxicate the mind. I think that for a lot of people who are watching this whole thing that we sometimes call russia gate, or the russia collusion story. Its the sexy thing that people talk about, the actual components of this investigation, have involved a lot more straightforward potential criminal activity. Things like potential Money Laundering, the potential things this could be, we shouldnt be looking for this to be a conclusion or indictment. No, not necessarily. His mandate is very broad. Whatever he comes across during the course of his investigation, thats even remotely related to russia. Russian funding, mueller will have to investigate. He could use that as leverage to get people like Paul Manafort or Michael Flynn to flip and tell him what happened during the 2016 election, they really had a direct window into all the conversations that happened. This is some of what hes been saying tonight this is a very big boom if true, the story is very skeletal in content and sources, the other note here, noting the sourcing on the cnn story, sources briefed on the matter. He says i cant think of many classes of people who would be briefed on the matter, what classes of people might be briefed on something such as this . They could be people who are lawyers or friends or Family Members of the people who are about to be taken into custody. The indictment could be sealed because the person whos been indicted has been offered a chance to turn themselves in. It could be people involved in the arrangements for turning themselves in. Its a pretty small group. Its a little irresponsible to speculate about who this would be. If in fact, if cnn is right. If someone is going to turn themselves in monday or tuesday, there will be a number of people briefed on the logistics and mechanics of doing that. Its possible one of those people told cnn. That is an important point. It could be someone that mueller was attempting to utilize in his investigation. The process may not be the spectacular scene that people think of in a tv episode of law and order, right . No, probably not. I do think that this is also not the culmination, this is not the end of it. I agree with your point a minute ago, if people are waiting for the final scene of this collusion drama. Thats not what were getting at this stage in time. Were going to get one of these individuals responsible for another crime. Taking money from foreign sources without disclosing that, or someone who has some piece of information. Some lower point on the totem pole that mueller is going to work his way up to. We have too get our expectations set for whats going to happen next week. Youve had several people on capitol hill, they seem to be escalating their attempts to protect and quarantine the white house, by engaging in these alternate Universe Versions of the scandal. Do you think its fair to draw a line on what youve seen on capitol hill. And the idea that Something Like this is coming, and maybe sources were being briefed on it . Its a good theory, im not sure its true. This past week, we saw an intensification on the republican side with them bringing up these issues of how the dossier was funded. Whether the uranium deal was somehow clinton pay to play. The answer is no. You bringing back the whole jim comey thing. Im expecting to go back to unmasking. The thing to take a step back, we can look at this in a partisan way, and say, its obvious theyre trying to deflect from the core of the issue here, which is what the russians did. The United States was attacked. The United States was attacked by a foreign adversary, its political system was subverted, under mind. We can argue what the impact was, whether it was successful. Influenced the election or not. And yet, the republicans who claim to be more patriotic than anyone else, claim to support the Intelligence Community are dissing the Intelligence Community and are doing nothing to deal with what happened in the past or what might happen in the future, that to me is somewhat surprising. Yeah, and you know, i think its important to me, these are the things youve been working on this week, also before this big news. Potential news broke tonight. You had the news that the attorney who met with donald trump jr. And Paul Manafort at trump tower was directly connected or at least using Talking Points that had been shared with kremlin sources. We had your reporting on the connections between the data firm that was run by steve bannon, and this potential sort of outreach to wiki leaks. I think for a lot of people it becomes confusing. Do you think there was any news that may help us get to why . I think the most consequential news is the mueller charges. The news that Cam Bridge Analytica reached out to Julian Assange. Its the first time weve seen an entity working with the Trump Campaign was reaching out to Julian Assange, and trying to get Hillary Clintons emails from a foreign intelligence agent, essentially. Its important to point out, when they did that, in july, there already was a pretty strong Public Record that the russians were behind the stealing of the dnc emails and other materials. Theyre literally saying, were going to get into bed with someone working with the russians, in order to advance our political campaign. You can only imagine what happened if obama or clinton would have been caught doing that. Absolutely. We can only imagine. What donald trump is going to say or do, how he may react this weekend. I dont know, speculate for us. I think this could be getting serious enough, we may turn on fox and find the yule log and Classical Music playing. I dont know how theyre going to deal with the fact that the week long attack they made on the uranium thing, they tried to turn into the clintons being edge emand julius rosenberg, who paid for the steele dossier and all these things, theyve been at full alert over there and the fact that were facing the first indictments of people involved in this russia scandal, may be peripherally involved, may be involved on other issues. Thats going to be a real collapse in the narrative theyre invested in over there. Plooez stay with us, if youre just joining us. Natasha staying with us as well. According to a report from cnn, that cites sources familiar with the matter, Robert Mueller has filed their first charges. Its been a long time coming, but we finally know who is behind the funding of the antitrump research that produced the dossier on candidate donald trump. A conservative website has confirmed to the House Intelligence Committee that it initially retaininged the firm to conduct Opposition Research on trump and other candidates, they stopped funding the project in the spring of 2016 at which point Hillary Clintons campaign picked up the funding of the roth. We also learned new details of the firm that worked with theTrump Campaign. Rebecca mercer, the trump mega donor. Rebecca mercer in August Of 2016 asked whether the company could better organize the Hillary Clinton relateds emails being released by wikileaks. Heres how adam schiff described the connection today on morning joe. Here you have the head of the Data Analytics campaign reaching out to a Foreign Intelligence Agency affiliated and working with the russians. You also have peter smith in contact with flynn. And reaching out to russians on the dark web to look for these emails. Theres an extraordinary number of connections between the campaign and those who are stealing the emails, publishing the emails. And a picture begins to emerge. The New York Times is reporting the russian lawyer who held that Trump Tower Meet Iing was directly linked to the kremlin. Natalia brought information to the meeting she thought was darthing to Hillary Clinton. Had discussed Talking Points about that information prior to the meeting well russias top prosecutor. The coordination between the Trump Tower Visitor undercuts her account that she was a purely independent actor, when she met with don junior, Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort in 2016. This also contradicts the story we heard about the meeting was about adoptions. Its commonly agreed after many months of costly looking that there was no collusion between russia and trump. Was collusion with hc . Congressman schiff replied, the special council and the congress have yet to come have come to no conclusions yet. We will let you know when we do. Joining us now ken delaney, Malcolm Nance. Ken, ill go to you first on anything youve been able to learn, i know were scrambling to try to confirm this news from cnn, what do you think is the import of it. We are not there yet, joy. We have not confirmed it to our satisfaction. Im going to withhold comment on it. The times story was really interesting. Essentially confirming what we had reported at nbc news after our interview with her on the telephone in september, which is that and she told us at the time that she was in contact with this prosecutor in moscow, very close to Vladimir Putin about these Talking Points. Her story is that she got the russian prosecutor interested in this case. The point is she was in talks with people close to the kremlin, she brought that back to trump tower and handed damaging information on Hillary Clinton. I reviewed this information, it talks about contributions from Hedge Fund Called the riff brothers. The point that the trump team was willing to take a meeting based on the promise of dirt is what is most significant. You talked about this being a dangle, how open the campaign would be to more contact with the russian government, correct in. Absolutely. Ive said this from the beginning, there were probably multiple dirty tricks teams trying to get all this information related to Hillary Clinton, and russia was watching each and every one of them. And responding to them in various forms. First you have natalia and her crew going directly to the top management of the Trump Campaign, including his son, and trying to offer that information. On the other hand as weve learned, Flynn And Smith and cambridge analytical all quite possibly independently, were trying to gather this data to use the Hillary Clinton emails against her. At the same time, we know donald trump became cognizant of all of these efforts on july 27th, when he said, russia if youre listening, please release Hillary Clintons emails. All of these amount to a conspiracy. We dont know whether or not there was any active collaboration, now we have the wall street journal reporting, Rebecca Mercer was reaching out and asking the ceo of cambridge to reach out to Julian Assange as late as august. There was this constant stream of communication beginning in june, and ending in august, maybe . At least continuing through august, we really just dont know. We also have news today, confirming that carter page who i believe has already been interviewed on the senate side met behind closed doors. Today i believe, with Senate Intel Committee staff for more than five hours. And the House Intelligence Committee announcing page would appear before that committee on november 2nd. What can you tell us about that. Carter page is a figure. He has denied any collusion with russia. He took that trip to moscow while he was working for the Trump Campaign and gave a pro russian speech, and its pretty clear that the Dont Try To Drag Donald Trump<\/a> into this, dont try youre saying that he was involved in this to try to undercut his election. He won his election fair and square. And what the russians did was something separate. What has started to happen now, is that the white house in particular is really trying to get away with saying the russians did nothing wrong. Thats right. And theyre doing that at the same time Rex Tillerson<\/a> is dissolving the sanctions department, that the white house is dragging its feet bringing sanctions against russia. And if were going to protect ourselves from russia, continuing to do this. The department of homeland security, dod and lots of other organizations ought to be well down the road in terms of protecting us, and theyre not. That surrender to what russia has done, thats a patriotism\rthing, not a partisanship thing, thats the part that makes me sad. Its not sunday, but you can get an amen on that, sister. Thank you very much. I will look forward to my besaturdays elled time machine. I am joy reid in for lawrence odonnell. We begin with that Breaking News<\/a>. Cnn reporting that according to two sources briefed on the matter, the first charges have been filed in the Investigation Led<\/a> by Robert Mueller<\/a>, the charges are apparently still sealed under orders from a federal judge. We dont know who the charges are against, and we dont know what the charges are. Nbc news has not confirmed this report, and no other News Organization<\/a> has confirmed it either. We can only go by what cnn is saying at the moment. A federal grand jury approved the actions. Joining us now. Chief of staff to janet reno. David korn from mother jones. And natasha bertrand. Shes been closely following russias involvement in the 2016 u. S. President ial election. Im going to start with you, natasha. Does it feel like this might be, rather than the beginning of the story, maybe the crest of a story that began 48 hours or so ago, when we started to hear this alternate Collusion Theory<\/a> . Absolutely. This puts into context all of the distractions, that weve been getting out of the republicans over the last week. And aided by the president this morning, now we know theres no collusion between donald trump and russia, its all Hillary Clinton<\/a>. The Uranium Story<\/a> that mysteriously disappeared after 11 years. This is foreshadowing something\rbig to come. The fact that mueller is filing these charges, hes moving quickly to get someone to flip prosecutors dont normally do charges this early in an investigation. The idea that if this investigation is wrapping up, it does impact the investigations that are going on in the house and in particular in the senate. Where they seem to be a bit more serious, at least on the Senate Intelligence<\/a> side. What do you expect staffers to be talking about tonight on that senate side. Yeah, i think staffers and everyone are saying, who, who, who, who, who. Well see who winds up being taken into custody next week as a result of this indictment. Its a possibility that its\rits also important to know, that the Special Counsel<\/a> has really been given the per view to examine any issue that arises in the investigation. And we do know that in the course of investigating the trump russia scandal, the Special Counsel<\/a> had reason to look at lobbying activities by paul pan in a for the. Activities that may be related to michael fwlin. Theres a lot to choose from for those who care to speculate. I also would say that after this week of distraction. Going back and looking at Hillary Clintons<\/a> uranium deal, which wasnt her goal. Going back and looking at how james comey dealt with the clinton email server controversy, nothing cuts through distractions like indictments. Whatever is going on in the House Intelligence Committee<\/a> looks like a circus. I reported last week, they\rbarely have enough staff to do what they say theyre doing. The Senate Judiciary<\/a> committee has blown up. Indictments will intoxicate the mind. I think that for a lot of people who are watching this whole thing that we sometimes call russia gate, or the russia collusion story. Its the sexy thing that people talk about, the actual components of this investigation, have involved a lot more straightforward potential criminal activity. Things like potential Money Laundering<\/a>, the potential things this could be, we shouldnt be looking for this to be a conclusion or indictment. No, not necessarily. His mandate is very broad. Whatever he comes across during the course of his investigation, thats even remotely related to russia. Russian funding, mueller will have to investigate. He could use that as leverage to\rget people like Paul Manafort<\/a> or Michael Flynn<\/a> to flip and tell him what happened during the 2016 election, they really had a direct window into all the conversations that happened. This is some of what hes been saying tonight this is a very big boom if true, the story is very skeletal in content and sources, the other note here, noting the sourcing on the cnn story, sources briefed on the matter. He says i cant think of many classes of people who would be briefed on the matter, what classes of people might be briefed on something such as this . They could be people who are lawyers or friends or Family Members<\/a> of the people who are about to be taken into custody. The indictment could be sealed because the person whos been indicted has been offered a chance to turn themselves in. It could be people involved in\rthe arrangements for turning themselves in. Its a pretty small group. Its a little irresponsible to speculate about who this would be. If in fact, if cnn is right. If someone is going to turn themselves in monday or tuesday, there will be a number of people briefed on the logistics and mechanics of doing that. Its possible one of those people told cnn. That is an important point. It could be someone that mueller was attempting to utilize in his investigation. The process may not be the spectacular scene that people think of in a tv episode of law and order, right . No, probably not. I do think that this is also not the culmination, this is not the\rend of it. I agree with your point a minute ago, if people are waiting for the final scene of this collusion drama. Thats not what were getting at this stage in time. Were going to get one of these individuals responsible for another crime. Taking money from foreign sources without disclosing that, or someone who has some piece of information. Some lower point on the totem pole that mueller is going to work his way up to. We have too get our expectations set for whats going to happen next week. Youve had several people on capitol hill, they seem to be escalating their attempts to protect and quarantine the white house, by engaging in these alternate Universe Versions<\/a> of the scandal. Do you think its fair to draw a line on what youve seen on capitol hill. And the idea that Something Like<\/a> this is coming, and maybe\rsources were being briefed on it . Its a good theory, im not sure its true. This past week, we saw an intensification on the republican side with them bringing up these issues of how the dossier was funded. Whether the uranium deal was somehow clinton pay to play. The answer is no. You bringing back the whole jim comey thing. Im expecting to go back to unmasking. The thing to take a step back, we can look at this in a partisan way, and say, its obvious theyre trying to deflect from the core of the issue here, which is what the russians did. The United States<\/a> was attacked. The United States<\/a> was attacked by a foreign adversary, its political system was subverted, under mind. We can argue what the impact was, whether it was successful. Influenced the election or not. And yet, the republicans who claim to be more patriotic than anyone else, claim to support the Intelligence Community<\/a> are dissing the Intelligence Community<\/a> and are doing nothing to deal with what happened in the past or what might happen in the future, that to me is somewhat surprising. Yeah, and you know, i think its important to me, these are the things youve been working on this week, also before this big news. Potential news broke tonight. You had the news that the attorney who met with donald trump jr. And Paul Manafort<\/a> at trump tower was directly connected or at least using Talking Points<\/a> that had been shared with kremlin sources. We had your reporting on the connections between the data firm that was run by steve bannon, and this potential sort of outreach to wiki leaks. I think for a lot of people it becomes confusing. Do you think there was any news that may help us get to why . I think the most consequential news is the mueller charges. The news that Cam Bridge Analytica<\/a> reached out to Julian Assange<\/a>. Its the first time weve seen an entity working with the Trump Campaign<\/a> was reaching out to Julian Assange<\/a>, and trying to get Hillary Clintons<\/a> emails from a foreign intelligence agent, essentially. Its important to point out, when they did that, in july, there already was a pretty strong Public Record<\/a> that the russians were behind the stealing of the dnc emails and other materials. Theyre literally saying, were going to get into bed with someone working with the russians, in order to advance our political campaign. You can only imagine what happened if obama or clinton would have been caught doing that. Absolutely. We can only imagine. What donald trump is going to say or do, how he may react this weekend. I dont know, speculate for us. I think this could be getting serious enough, we may turn on fox and find the yule log and Classical Music<\/a> playing. I dont know how theyre going to deal with the fact that the week long attack they made on the uranium thing, they tried to turn into the clintons being edge emand julius rosenberg, who paid for the steele dossier and all these things, theyve been at full alert over there and the fact that were facing the first indictments of people involved in this russia scandal, may be peripherally involved, may be involved on other issues. Thats going to be a real collapse in the narrative theyre invested in over there. Plooez stay with us, if youre just joining us. Natasha staying with us as well. According to a report from cnn, that cites sources familiar with the matter, Robert Mueller<\/a> has filed their first charges. Its been a long time coming, but we finally know who is behind the funding of the antitrump research that produced the dossier on candidate donald trump. A conservative website has confirmed to the House Intelligence Committee<\/a> that it initially retaininged the firm to conduct Opposition Research<\/a> on trump and other candidates, they stopped funding the project in the spring of 2016 at which point Hillary Clintons<\/a> campaign picked up the funding of the roth. We also learned new details of the firm that worked with the\rTrump Campaign<\/a>. Rebecca mercer, the trump mega donor. Rebecca mercer in August Of 2016<\/a> asked whether the company could better organize the Hillary Clinton<\/a> relateds emails being released by wikileaks. Heres how adam schiff described the connection today on morning joe. Here you have the head of the Data Analytics<\/a> campaign reaching out to a Foreign Intelligence Agency<\/a> affiliated and working with the russians. You also have peter smith in contact with flynn. And reaching out to russians on the dark web to look for these emails. Theres an extraordinary number of connections between the campaign and those who are\rstealing the emails, publishing the emails. And a picture begins to emerge. The New York Times<\/a> is reporting the russian lawyer who held that Trump Tower Meet Iing<\/a> was directly linked to the kremlin. Natalia brought information to the meeting she thought was darthing to Hillary Clinton<\/a>. Had discussed Talking Points<\/a> about that information prior to the meeting well russias top prosecutor. The coordination between the Trump Tower Visitor<\/a> undercuts her account that she was a purely independent actor, when she met with don junior, Jared Kushner<\/a> and Paul Manafort<\/a> in 2016. This also contradicts the story we heard about the meeting was about adoptions. Its commonly agreed after many months of costly looking that there was no collusion\rbetween russia and trump. Was collusion with hc . Congressman schiff replied, the special council and the congress have yet to come have come to no conclusions yet. We will let you know when we do. Joining us now ken delaney, Malcolm Nance<\/a>. Ken, ill go to you first on anything youve been able to learn, i know were scrambling to try to confirm this news from cnn, what do you think is the import of it. We are not there yet, joy. We have not confirmed it to our satisfaction. Im going to withhold comment on it. The times story was really interesting. Essentially confirming what we had reported at nbc news after our interview with her on the telephone in september, which is that and she told us at the time that she was in contact with this prosecutor in moscow, very close to Vladimir Putin<\/a> about these Talking Points<\/a>. Her story is that she got the russian prosecutor interested in this case. The point is she was in talks with people close to the kremlin, she brought that back to trump tower and handed damaging information on Hillary Clinton<\/a>. I reviewed this information, it talks about contributions from Hedge Fund Called<\/a> the riff brothers. The point that the trump team was willing to take a meeting based on the promise of dirt is what is most significant. You talked about this being a dangle, how open the campaign would be to more contact with the russian government, correct in. Absolutely. Ive said this from the beginning, there were probably multiple dirty tricks teams trying to get all this information related to Hillary Clinton<\/a>, and russia was watching\reach and every one of them. And responding to them in various forms. First you have natalia and her crew going directly to the top management of the Trump Campaign<\/a>, including his son, and trying to offer that information. On the other hand as weve learned, Flynn And Smith<\/a> and cambridge analytical all quite possibly independently, were trying to gather this data to use the Hillary Clinton<\/a> emails against her. At the same time, we know donald trump became cognizant of all of these efforts on july 27th, when he said, russia if youre listening, please release Hillary Clintons<\/a> emails. All of these amount to a conspiracy. We dont know whether or not there was any active\rcollaboration, now we have the wall street journal reporting, Rebecca Mercer<\/a> was reaching out and asking the ceo of cambridge to reach out to Julian Assange<\/a> as late as august. There was this constant stream of communication beginning in june, and ending in august, maybe . At least continuing through august, we really just dont know. We also have news today, confirming that carter page who i believe has already been interviewed on the senate side met behind closed doors. Today i believe, with Senate Intel Committee<\/a> staff for more than five hours. And the House Intelligence Committee<\/a> announcing page would appear before that committee on november 2nd. What can you tell us about that. Carter page is a figure. He has denied any collusion with russia. He took that trip to moscow while he was working for the Trump Campaign<\/a> and gave a pro\rrussian speech, and its pretty clear that the Senate Intelligence<\/a> committee after spending five hours with him, had some important questions for him. And theres also been reports that to some questions, hes asserted his Fifth Amendment<\/a> rights not to answer. Where he fits into all of this remains to be seen. He may not be the figure to write off as some have thought for some time. Absolutely. Michael cohen has been interviewed by investigators this week. He was supposedly grilled by investigators. The significance of that . Well, as you know, Michael Cohen<\/a> sent the email in november of 2015, essentially saying he was aware that russia wanted to work on this project of trump tower in moscow, you know, and the ivanka spa. And that he they and he would try to get them elected president of the United States<\/a>. He felt confident there was going to be some form of support. Bringing him in, im not sure if these are check the box interviews. I think these are supporting operations interviews, which will get the truth, but also support whatever comes down manaforts im sorry, the Mueller Investigation<\/a>s pike, and will support quite possibly future charges or other lines of investigation. Yeah, and natasha, you know, the Trump Former Campaign<\/a> team has attempted to portray all of these contacts and meetings as enconsequential. Has there been any sort of independent verification that these Data Operations<\/a> were successful . Theyre saying none of it was really even needed . A number of analysts ive spoken to said its very unlikely the russians would have been able to target the ads the way they did without any help from americans who had the knowledge of the intricacies of american politics, to really figure out who was going to be most vulnerable to this fake\rnews. Who was going to be most susceptible of changing their vote. And that according to people ive spoken to was very much something that they thought americans would have had to have been involved in. Isnt that Cambridge Analyticas<\/a> expertise . Absolutely. Coming up on a big news night, the real billionaire on a mission to get donald trump impeached. Hey grandpa. Hey, kid. Really good to see you. You too. You tell grandma you were going fishing again . Maybe. vo the best things in life keep going. Thats why i got a subaru, too. Introducing the allnew crosstrek. Love is out there. Find it in a subaru crosstrek. When heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. Jimmys gotten used to his whole yup, hes gone noseblind. Odors. He thinks it smells fine, but his mom smells this. Luckily for all your hardtowash fabrics. Theres febreze fabric refresher. Febreze doesnt just mask, it eliminates odors youve. Gone noseblind to. And try Febreze Unstopables<\/a> for fabric. With up to twice the fresh scent power, youll want to try it. Again and again and maybe just one more time. Indulge in irresistible freshness. Febreze unstopables. Breathe happy. Oh very nice. Now im turning into my dad. I text in full sentences. I refer to every child as chief. This hat was free. What am i supposed to do, not wear it . Next thing you know, im telling strangers defense wins championships. Well, it does. Right . Why is the door open . Are we trying to air condition the whole neighborhood . At least i bundled home and auto on an internet website, progressive. Com. Progressive cant save you from becoming your parents, but we can save you money when you bundle home and auto. I mean, why would i replace this . Its not broken. Counsel muellers special investigation into the Trump Campaign<\/a> and russia according to cnn tonight. Nbc news still working to try to verify that reporting. The news may be of Potential Interest<\/a> to a democratic millionaire attracting the raged tweets of the president with this new tv ad. Hes brought us to the brink of nuclear war, obstructed justice at the fbi and direct violation of the constitution hes taken money from foreign governments and threatened to shut down News Organization<\/a>s that report the truth. If that isnt a case for impeaching and removing a dangerous president , then what has our government become . People in congress and his administration know that the president is a clear and present danger. Whos mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons. And they do nothing. Join us. Tell your member of congress that they have a moral responsibility to stop doing whats political and start doing whats right. That was tom steyer,\rthe most prolific democratic downer of the 2016 election. He used to be known for giving to candidate that is back environmental causes but now his cause is impeaching donald trump and spending 10 million to air that tv ad along with an online petition for trumps impeach. Joining us now is tom steyer. Cnn reporting, nbc not confirming it yet, but Cnn Reporting<\/a> that the first indictment or indictments handed down in the Mueller Investigation<\/a>. Your thoughts . Well, i think that this is a reflection of the kind of lawlessness that is pervaded this administration. And i think that were going to find out along with Everybody Else<\/a> exactly what the charges are but i think the question will be not just what are the first what is the first charge, but where did they lead . Whos connected . I think regardless of Anything Else<\/a> that has to put this administration in an internal crisis. They dont know where it will\rlead either. Youre not the first democrat to call for the Itch Impeachment<\/a> of president trump. Obviously, Maxine Waters<\/a> has been very vocal about this. There are members of the house that have started to write up articles of impeachment that we know will go into where as long as the leader of the house is republican. But this is what the democratic whip in the house, steny hoyer, this is his reaction to your effort in an interview with Washington Examiner<\/a> saying i think we have made it clear that impeachment is premature and not necessarily off the table in the future and premature in this point in time and seeing the Mueller Investigation<\/a> intensify, do you think that helps make your case for congress to act or could the case be made, Let Mueller Finish<\/a> what he is doing . Well, i think that obviously i believe that the case is already been made before mr. Mueller has reported. Because the fact of the matter is this president has met the basis for impeachment through already obstructing justice and\rthe emoliements clause. From my standpoint, this is a question of the American People<\/a> being at great danger in terms of safety and health due to the activity of this administration. So that theres an actual urgency to impeachment. But lets say one more thing, joy. We arent going to the elected officials. We are asking the American People<\/a> to join us and raise their voices because we believe that the voice and the will of the American People<\/a> still is and always should be the greatest power in the country. And should democratic voters make this an election issue about whether or not they will support their member of congress if their member of congress will not support impeachment . I think that this is a question for american citizens to stand up and demand that their elected officials go on the record and do whats right. The fact of the matter is i think if you went through washington, d. C. On either side of the aisle they would agree\rthat what were doing, what were saying is the truth. But right now, people are scared to say it for whatever reason. I really dont want to speculate. I dont claim to understand it but what i do know is that the men people are in jeopardy as a result of the behavior and activity of this administration. This president has met the boundaries for impeachment and we need to Tell The Truth<\/a> and asking americans if no one else will Tell The Truth<\/a>, will the American People<\/a> join us . Which they have been and raise their voices to say we need to do this now. You know, theres a way to put yourself in the position to be a part of an Impeachment Proceeding<\/a> or a trial if donald trump would be impeached. Are you interested in running for senate in are you planning to run for senate . What ive said, joy, and which is was true when i said it before and still true, i believe that we have gone down a very dark path. As a country. And i will do anything and i havent ruled out running for office to get us back on a path towards a much more just america and a society where were more\rprosperous and healthier. I have not ruled out anything and the fact of the matter is the Impeachment Campaign<\/a> is what we came up with right now as the where we could have the most positive impact in Directing Americans<\/a> and our country back to a better vision of a healthier, more prosperous country. And thats what we are trying to do you did not charge in the ads you are putting out paying for donald trump committed crimes and misdemeanors. You called him mentally unstable. Upon what do you base that . Well, actually, if you go back to the original writing of the constitution, and the words High Crimes And Misdemeanors<\/a> written by alexander hamilton, its a question really of violating your trust with the constitution and the American People<\/a>. And the one that traditionally has been used is when youre obstructing justice which mr. Trump definitely did when he fired the head of the fbi for trying to investigate him with\rregards to his ties to russia. So from the standpoint of High Crimes And Misdemeanors<\/a>, i think people should go back to the original text, understand what the Framers Of The Constitution<\/a> were describing and understand that historically this president is more than met that, that line in the sand. Yeah. Should democrats run on if you put us in charge of the house well impeach donald trump . Do you think thats a winning message for democrats . You know, im not doing this from a cynical, political standpoint, joy. I believe that our country is at risk and i believe we should be telling the truth about this. So im not really doing the calculation of looking at polls and trying to figure out whats tactical right now. I believe that americans should stand up for whats right and i dont know what that means politically. I know that in the long run if we Tell The Truth<\/a> and we try and do the right thing, thiss how we get good outcomes and what i believe were doing and asking other americans to do with us. All right. Tom, thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Coming up, could tonights new report explain why republicans have the eyes on Special Counsel<\/a> muellers budget . Thats next. Liberty mutual stood with me when this guy got a flat tire in the middle of the night, so he got home safe. Yeah, my dad says our insurance doesnt have that. What . you can leave worry behind when liberty stands with you\u2122. Liberty mutual insurance. You give us comfort. And we give you bare feet, backsweat, and gordos. Everything. I love you, but sometimes you stink. Soft surfaces trap odors. Febreze fabric refresher\rcleans them away for good. Because the things you love the most can stink. And plug in febreze to keep your whole room fresh for up to 45 days. Breathe happy with febreze. What twisted ankle . Ask what Muscle Strain<\/a> . Advil makes pain a distant memory nothing works faster stronger or longer what pain . Advil. That was the white house earlier today before tonights Breaking News<\/a> that the first charges in Robert Mueller<\/a>s russia investigation filed according to a cnn report. No word on what those charges are or filed against since a federal judge allegedly ordered that the charges be sealed. Nbc has not confirmed this reporting and also learning that republicans hoping Robert Mueller<\/a> to quickly wrap up the russia investigation have reportedly got their eye on Robert Mueller<\/a>s budget. According to politico, house lawmakers havent yet seen the russia investigators first spending report and must go through a Justice Department<\/a> review before being made public. But theyre already setting up for a fight how much its costing taxpayers in the fact theres no end in sight. Joining us is mieke eoyang, former staff member and Vice President<\/a> for the National Security<\/a> program at third way. Ron klain, david corn and Malcolm Nance<\/a> is back. Its an obvious of what appeared\rto be tactics we should say to try to divert the investigation away from looking donald trump and looking at other things or exonerate him. Do you expect that that body or others on the House Republican<\/a> side or Senate Republican<\/a> side might try to go after Robert Mueller<\/a>s funding even now with this new news . Thats right. Devin nunes has been trying to distract people from the main focus of the investigation. Its important to remember that the House Intelligence Committee<\/a>s running two separate examinations. Chairman nunes was supposed to recuse himself and leave it to conway and schiff. Deserve Opinion Nunes<\/a> has gone running off in the middle of the night with stories of unmasking that his counterparts in the senate call ridiculous. And talking about this ukraine uranium sale. Devin nunes is trying to\rdistract people from the issue. This new news tonight changes the game a bit but you have had in the last several days at least this week fox news and friend and allies of the president of the United States<\/a> floating headlines like mueller facing new republican pressure to resign in russia probe. A little bit of an excerpt from the article Special Counsel<\/a> mueller facing a fresh round of conservative critics for his resignation and revelations that called into question. I would presume thats harder now. Harder but they wont stop trying. I saw that noted legal ethics Expert Hannity<\/a> saying he must resign or recuse and theyre going to press it hard. Look. Joy, i have been saying for months, i think were headed to a Constitutional Crisis<\/a> here and the crisis is ultimately donald\rtrump fires bob mueller to prevent him from indicting people close enough to the president , and what we see here is that the house and lesser extent the senate and the senate somewhat are just completely giving up their Constitutional Responsibilities<\/a> to have oversight on the president and now theyre going the next step and trying to stop the person who is bob mueller and House Republican<\/a>s and donald trump i think are going to provoke a Constitutional Crisis<\/a> trying to prevent Special Counsel<\/a> from doing his job. A Constitutional Crisis<\/a> david korn, but also a political crisis. One could envision a scenario where if theres indictments and donald trump to, lets say, pardon folks and takes us into a different political territory to drag us through the rest of the year. I dont think republicans necessarily have an easy out from this russia probe and all of its many tentacles. They dont have an easy out because they havent come to terms with what happened, with the fact that as i said earlier, the United States<\/a> was attacked. They havent taken\rresponsibility for thoroughly investigating and making sure it doesnt happen again. I think the indictments make it harder for them to put pressure on Robert Mueller<\/a> and well get to see some results of what he is doing, maybe get an idea of where he is heading if indeed the indictments come down but ultimately the president had a chance. He had a great chance to put it behind him when he took office to say, were going to get to the bottom of this. If it benefited me, it was unintentional on my part, and were going to move ahead and have an investigation and make sure it never happens again. But all hes done with his republican poodles is to make sure we dont find out the truth, and that everything gets covered up and lidden away. Thats why this is not going to go away for them. You know what . Malcolm, not only that, but you have donald trump do things that seem counter intuitive if the idea is to put to bed he has a special affinity for russia an and the sanctions to be implemented this month and\rintervening far gag order lifted to further the uranium one conspiracy theory. There does seem to be almost counter intuitive action coming out of the white house, dont you think . I mean, we had counter intuitive actions come ow of donald trump from the day he announced to run for president. None of thats surprising. What is surprising and i think the republicans are most afraid of is that if indictments come down the pike and donald trump tries to put the kibosh on this investigation, goes after mueller, you know, unfortunately for him, he can get rid of mueller but all the documents that are left on the table, all of the investigation documents, they dont go away. I think mueller understands that. And what hes doing right now is hes going to play bean ball. Hes going to start throwing these indictments at people who are not cooperating, might gate pardon but hes going to make it so difficult that anything donald trump does is just going to lead to more Obstruction Of Justice<\/a> charges. Mieke, thiss a conundrum for republicans that may want it to go away. It lands back in the lap of the represents and if Robert Mueller<\/a> finds something and we have no idea that the indictments are for, could be Money Laundering<\/a> and not collusion with russia, but if it starts to creep closer and closer and closer to a president ial obstruction, we just had on tom steyer with a lot of money. Hes a real billionaire. Theres no one questioning whether hes a billionaire. Hes running ads on fox news calling for impeachment, and saying donald trump is a threat to the republic. This drum beat will not end and it eventually lands back in the house. No . Thats right. And the house of representatives, republicans there, have to remember that it was their constituents much stronger and being antirussia than democrats were until we got to donald trump so the idea that\rthe republicans are going to then try and protect donald trump when what he did is collude with a hostile foreign power to try to interfere with the election, given what russia wants to do to america and bringing it low, they have a hard time defending that and still maintaining that theyre patriots. Absolutely. David korn, i come back to you for a moment. The attempt to sort of go and do a third direction, and create a new russiagate that is Hillary Clintons<\/a> scandal, it doesnt i dont know where that goes. I dont know how long you can roll with that. It works for the fox news audience. It gives trump something to tweet about. And remember, what they want to do is they dont want to win this argument. They want to muddy the waters. They want to make people think that the russian scandal is just partisan bickering, back and forth. Who knows . Uranium, dossiers. Thats what they want to do. They dont want to focus on the key thing that the u. S. Was attacked and donald trump and his associates interactions with\rrussia before the campaign while this was going on. They just need to make it look messy. And get 15 to 20 of the public to turn off to it. Thats the goal here. Indictments as i said earlier, my favorite line tonight. Indictments cut through distraction. Absolutely. In that case, reclarify for us again, from an intelligence point of view. It is not the case that there was an Equal Sprague<\/a> of assistance to the democrats. And from p a republican side, they were more amenable to Hillary Clinton<\/a> winning. Its clear who they favored and what they did, right . Thats ludicrous. U. S. Intelligence had information that was collected by either Collections Operators<\/a> or a sister Intelligence Agency<\/a> that had direct and continuous communications with u. S. Citizens with known russian\rintelligence thats where this manifested from in the u. S. Intelligence community. Not from the steele dossier, not from carter pages trips to russia, it came from a source that has transitions from intelligence to evidence into the Mueller Investigation<\/a>. And i think thats probably terrifying trump more than anything. Because he understands im not sure if he understands, but he has been briefed in some of the collections capacities of the United States<\/a>, and what we can do when we really set our mind to it. And that story has been out there for a year, that we know this information, the question does it come into the administration as a dagger or surround him like a wall of water. We know that, obviously, we talk to you smart people here on television every day, so good the republicans and the house. Publicly, they arent doing a lot about it. Thats right, joy. I think they privately are alarmed about it on two levels, there are patriots on capitol hill in both parties, i think davids core point here that america was attacked. Trying to subvert american democracy. In the dark of night there are many republicans who are troubled by that, theyre under political pressure not to say that, but at some point in time, the fact of that becomes clear. A second point is, the republican agenda has gone off the rails this year. Theyve gotten literally nothing done on capitol hill. Theyre about to go 0 for the entire calendar year here, thats because their president is busy mucking up an investigation and tweeting hate at anyone he can. Thats got to upset house and Senate Leaders<\/a> about trying to get some things done. And thats their priority. Mieke, there could be an\rargument, its much less important for this president to pass a few tax cuts for wealthy people, than for us to answer the question if the election was interfeared with by a foreign power. Its hard to believe thats not the priority among even partisan republicans on capitol hill. Thats right. And its not just this past election. But its elections to come. We have to remember that russia really objects to the fact that the United States<\/a> is a country that is based on rule of law, that we hold our leaders accountable and make them stand for election, that we believe in a free press. All of those things undermine Vladimir Putin<\/a> and his regime. So they want to try and make sure that americans dont believe in that. Weve got to figure out what they did so we can protect ourselves going forward. And republicans disinterest in that question is really troubling. And malcolm, have you seen evidence that the federal government, that the Trump Administration<\/a>, or that the congress is doing anything to prevent this happening in future elections . No. No. There is nothing happening that will prevent this from happening in future elections. Let me tell you something. If the russians dedicated a year of two major Intelligence Agencies<\/a> Cyber Warfare Assets<\/a> to go in and root around the dnc, you can be sure theyve done that to the rnc. There is no one out there right now who is immune to this. So if they decide theyre going to put an end to the Trump Administration<\/a> by releasing all of his unsecured phone calls and texts that were not seeing, they could do that. They have that capacity. Theyre just you know, theyve got nsa, but theyve got rubles behind it. It all depends on whether Vladimir Putin<\/a> decides that hes going to do it. And we need to protect ourselves. But this administration has no interest in that. David korn, do any of the republicans on capitol hill that you talk to, you were there today, do they have interest in it . Some have paid lip service to it from the beginning of the administration. But weve seen the Trump Administration<\/a> not even nominating many people to the key positions in the department of homeland security, which\rwould be in charge of protecting the election system. And you see no complaints coming from the russians of course not the russians, you see no complaints coming from the republicans either. There seems to be an alliance here of some sort. No, i mean, you have john mccain and Lindsey Graham<\/a> and marco rubio and others at the beginning of the year saying, this is terrible, we have to make sure it never happens again. You dont really hear them putting pressure on trump or holding him accountable for doing very little, because hes still not even admitting there was a problem. Mieke, last, ill give you this final question. Do you think in the end the republicans can get away with cutting the budget of the man who may now already be issuing indictments in the case of the russia probe . Cutting muellers budget . I dont think so. I think theyll have a really hard time with that. There are a fair number of republicans who do think we need an objective investigation. A lot of muellers attorneys would be willing to do this for free. I dont know that they could cut the budget so that mueller would stop as long as he can continue. I appreciate you guys joining me, thank you. Tonights last word is next. Its related to the Breaking News<\/a> weve been covering. Youll want to see this. Stay tuned. How do you chase what you love\rwith moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis<\/a> . Do what i did. Ask your doctor about humira. Its proven to help relieve pain and protect joints from further irreversible damage in many adults. Humira works by targeting and helping to block a specific source of inflammation that contributes to ra symptoms. Humira has been clinically studied for over 20 years. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Ready for a new chapter . Talk to your rheumatologist about humira. This is humira at work. When heartburn hits fight back fast with tums chewy bites. Fast relief in every bite. Crunchy outside. Chewy inside. Tum tum tum tum tums chewy bites. I love you, droolius caesar, but sometimes you stink. 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Heres how the Womens Convention<\/a> in detroit, which was organized by some of the participants of the huge historic Inauguration Protest<\/a> against donald trump handled the","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"https:\/\/vimarsana.com\/images\/vimarsana-bigimage.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240618T12:35:10+00:00"}