Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Manafort. That is a fact. That is news. That is legally concerning for donald trump and politically concerning as confessions are not a great message heading into the midterms. But donald trump has his own plan. While he didnt know this trial of this Campaign Trial would be on track for a verdict heading into labor day, which is of course a key time for the midterms, he has long known he has his own plans divert attention. He told a confidant he would revive his attacks on the nfl over people that kneel in protest leading up to the midterms because trump believes its return to the headlines will help republicans win votes. There it is. Today donald trump reupping his attacks on nfl players over the kneeling. This is on a friday heading into the anniversary of course of that Charlottesville White power
rally. Were not going to read the tweet tonight from the president attacking the players in last nights game because it is not particularly newsworthy and were not going to show you all the headlines it sparked. You can imagine there were many of them. The actual developments we are going to show you because that is what trump is distracting from. They include mueller pressing for a wider interview with trump than hes willing to give which would launch a Supreme Court fight, an associate of roger stone in the Grand Jury Box today and getting another roger stone aid held in contempt today for refusing to testify at all in this probe. It includes the issuance of a new subpoena to an associate of both stone and randy, news that broke on msnbc thursday night. Thats a lot of subpoenas and interviews around roger stone who unlike most Current White House aids is actually someone who has worked closely, intimately with donald trump for many years. Those are all developments
district that donald trump carried by about 11 in the crucial state of ohio. If those trends continue, republicans would hold power in house races where they do hold an 11 point edge or more, which would also look like a probable loss of control in the house of representatives. Now right now that republican is about a point ahead. The race has not officially been called. While attacking Football Players is one way to head into this weekend. Lets also note Many Americans taking a different tack and others are doing simply what many people do on sad anniversaries, honoring the people who are no longer with us like heather who was killed a year ago at that White Supremacy rally. Today her mother spoke about accountability for those in politics who encourage hate and violence. I can tell you what david duke and Richard Spencer and Jason Kessler and i believe
than he is. Last week he attacking lebron james. So our supposed leader is throwing little children in jail. Lebron james puts them in schools. This president on a daily basis likely undermines that Constitution By Maining An Ownership Stake openly in his businesses. He is revealing himself constantly. So i think the valuable lesson to us is the High Contrast that hes offering, a supposed leader Versus Real Leadership and hes threatened by the real. I would agree. You know, but this is a distraction that comes easy for someone who was in the son or is the son of the kkk. Donald trump is a racist and a white supremist and is particularly obsessed with black men. He attacks strong black men. He went after president obama. He went after lebron james
sad 2018 little statistic we have of these polls. But people overwhelmingly oppose this. 58 of americans saying they oppose what he said. Only 12 support. The rest say they didnt know about it or neither. Also, saying hey guy who won the president ial election, how about we get a statement on the Quote Unite The Right Rally quote this weekend . Some of these athletes who obviously many of whom are black are very clear about the connection they see on this friday going into this weekend when someone was killed at a White Supremacy event. Here were back to go back into it all this weekend. Professional sports, at least football and basketball, are now lined up in unison against the president of the United States. We have every seen anything like that. Originated in teachins in the 1960s against the vietnam war. They are trying to organize kneeling ins. They want fans at College Football games, young people, to kneel in solidarity with the players when they are in the stands. Well see whether that kind of thing happens. But i think trump is assuming there will not be push back. Im not so sure it will work. I think its sad the smallness of his game back for this possible blue wave thats coming, that the only play he has left is more racism, more division. Because hes turned away any potential moderates who might come to his aid. And it doesnt have to be that way. Other president s havent done it this way. But this guy is going for the darker path, for the uglier path. It is just a waste of president ial power. If he were killing it as president , i would get a tweet about the nfl All Day Every day. But there is real work to do and
you were hired by us, the people. You are paid by us, the people. This is a big job and hes flaunting and flittering away the real opportunity he has to actually lead. When he is given that opportunity, he goes low every time. How much of that runs into the collective toll that cough rup corruption takes here . Im not going to vote for him or the republicans. Thats sort of a sitting voting block. As we all know, the way midterms and turn ultimater is everyone else. Is there a one, two, three, seven point shift when enough of the Corruption Stories congeal where, wow, the thing he ran against, the swamp, the pay for play to echo the point mark was make anything a different context, it was all projection of their own problems. It is really interesting. I talked to a democratic candidate in an ohio district, not the one on tuesday, a very
conservative district. This guy has a chance. And months ago he was telling me it was only one issue in his direct, health care, health care, health care and focussing on people with preexisting conditions who would lose their protections if the democrats were not to get control of the house. Thats all they cared about. When i talked to him last week, he said corruption is coming as an issue. That these people in power are swamp creatures, and this would mean the democrats have the potential to turn, drain the swamp on its head so that the swamp that needs to be drained now is the trump swamp. They have a lot to work with on an almost daily basis. You have this congressman who is Insider Trading from the south lawn on the white house, caught on camera. Yeah. The white house is a crime scene. Right. And then you have the will ler ross, the commerce secretary. There is a story in forbes magazine, not exactly a liberal rag, saying he was a grifter to the tune of 120 million. So these are, you know, bad actors in this trump orbit. I think collectively its really going to hurt. We should add the reporting here also about devin nunes. That is an example of corruption. Hes on record saying that theyre going to try to do all they can to protect him and cover this up. We dont have to plot. None of us has to plot on behalf of each other to cover up something because we havent done anything. We havent committed any time. No crime has been committed. I dont have to cover you up if you have not done anything wrong. To me thats an admission they know hes in trouble. I think corruption is important to run on. I think it is important to continue to expose. Even if it werent a political season. Because even as rachel just reported, the tampering in the elections is still going on. Donald trump is the one that is unpatriotic, not these nfl players, not anybody taking the hit. It has nothing to do with the flag or the anthem. They are taking a knee was of injustice, the same injustice that happened to Heather Heyer a year ago. A white woman killed during the march to montgomery simply driving people to and from the march. I met her family and know her family. She lost her life standing up for whats right. Heather heyer was doing the same thing. Its a shame she should be wrong. Every day that donald trump dismiss it and creates this false equivalency, both sides do it, it continues to set us back. He is a danger. And i dont expect anything. But you said hes a small man. Hes small minded. And he has nothing in common with the integrity of these nfl
players other than that helmet of a hairdo he wears on his head. As they say in court, tada. The contradictions are this is one of Law And Order. Law and order. Lets villafy immigrants because of Law And Order. Lets trash athletes because of Law And Order. Lets trash the inner city because of Law And Order. Yet these people look the other way when Law And Order is being so absolutely undermined by people who have the power to stop it and who themselves are committing it. Right. That dove tails with the question of what we were discussing about what is, what does corruption look like and what does it look like when people are defrauding the united
states. My special thanks for this discussion. Coming up, are the president s tv lawyers playing around about this interview with special counsel mueller . Today, the president dropped for tweet bombs on bob mueller. Also some of americans Immigration Judges are in a kind of actual Accountability Mechanism against Jeff Sessions. Well explain and how it matters. Could a judge hold the countrys top Law Enforcement official in Contempt Of Court . Ninetysix hundred roads named park in the u. S. Its americas most popular street name. But Allstate Agents know thats where the similarity stops. If youre on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the Washoe Zephyr could damage your siding. And thats very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. But no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local Allstate Agents knows yours. Now that you know the truth, are you in good hands . Subpoena out of the view. He wants to file an appeal in court. They say their goal is to get a different judge who they hope will find muellers entire probe is illegitimate. In order to appeal the judges decision, challenging the constitutionally of the special counsel, we have to have a Contempt Order in order to go to the court of appeals. Thats one thing that happened today. Meanwhile, there is action at Paul Manaforts trial, but it took a turn to the mysterious. Today was going to be the day they rested their case. Then the judge halted the trial for hours. Then muellers team called ahead a Bank Executive who testified that manafort was trying to sell a job in the Trump Administration. This is big. This is the first Corruption Allegation in the trial that does implicate that future Trump Administration, though, there
was no claim today that trump knew about this offer. While that evidence was making its way through federal court, what was Donald Trumps legal team doing . Were they working on a factual rebuttal or were they talking to legal experts or journalists about the facts . No. They spent three hours coguest hosting for shawn hannity, taking live calls and blasting the mueller probe. The way it started, the corruption at the out set. It looks like an illegitimate investigation. The president of the United States said it was a witch hunt. Still claiming he might offer trump up for a limited interview with this allegedly illegitimate process. Which doesnt really make sense. The wrangling over that interview could reach the Supreme Court. But mueller would have to decide these negotiationings are effectively exhausted. It is time to issue a subpoena, which the white house could then
legally appeal. Some pelegal experts say that te has come. It is time to subpoena the president. Mueller has been extraordinarily differential and patient whi. He joins me along with former federal prosecutor joyce vance, an msnbc analyst. Harry, why now . Well, i mean, it could have been a few months before. But why now . Because no time like the present. Things are dragging along. Its quite clear that the whole back and forth doesnt is not really going to end in any kind of fruitful process where trump really sits down and so it is the only option for getting answers. And we need answers not just for the criminal probe itself, but really for the public record. Were looking at the possibility of terminating this whole thing and never having heard from the
president of the United States about what happened. And i think as a matter of sort of publics right to know, thats a terrible prospect. Joyce, we like to chop it up here in good faith debates. If harry is right, then mueller is wrong because he clearly has not made this move yet. Oh, wow. Well, because he hasnt. So, joyce, what is muellers thinking in either trying to actually exhaust negotiations or create a record and a public image, if you will, that shows how far they went to try to do something other than issue the subpoena . Everything that harry says really makes sense to me, including this need for a public record. You know, no other employee at the Justice Department during government could get away with avoiding an interview. But there is one problem here, and thats the Department Of Justices policy that says that you cant indict a sitting president. And so it seems very unlikely to me that the president is
formally a target of the mueller investigation. But he has this quasi target status. There is this thought that perhaps after he leaves the presidency he could be indicted. And so i think mueller will be very reluctant to part company with typical rules that say that you dont subpoena a target except under exceptional circumstances and hell continue this back and forth to try to get a voluntarily interview. Its also worth noting that everything that were hearing about back and forth comes from giuliani. Mueller is not going out and giving press conferences, so we have to rely on Rudy Giulianis narrative here. But if there is, in fact, this back and forth, then mueller in many ways benefits by the public nature of this narrative. If giuliani is building a public narrative so people wont come forth and delusion their representatives on the hill with request for impeachment because they believe the process isnt
fair, well, mueller similarly benefits from the Sunshine Effect of the public watching the president trying to dodge an interview that no one else in the public life would be able to dodge. Harry, the other piece is giuliani claiming this is all some kind of trap. Take a listen. I think what we have to get clear is the fact that a lot of people interpret it this way, well, if hes telling the truth, why wouldnt he just go in and testify . Hey, welcome to the real world. The fact is he is telling the truth. Were walking him into a possible perjury trap. Not because he isnt telling the truth, but because somebody isnt telling the truth who they would credit, mainly comey. Are you familiar with the term trap house . No, go ahead. Well, it can refer to a place where there is contraband or criminal drug activity. Rudys argument seems to be there is a Perjury Trap House and you shouldnt let your client walk into it. What is wrong with, in your view, that argument . Quite a bit. First of all, its never been clear what they meant. Its been a slogan like fake news or drain the swamp by perjury trap. Just yesterday giuliani made clear what he meant, including in this interview. He said, look, there are questions like, why did you fire comey . That is not a perjury trap question. Thats a straightforward question that we need to know. Thats exactly the sort of thing that a prosecutor would be asking. The things hes posing as paradigms are exactly the down the middle questions that mueller and the people have every right to know. A perjury trap, if it means anything, would be some kind of Gotcha Exercise where the president is caught unawares. You cant be caught unawares by a question of why did you fire comey . And we dont know the answer to that because hes given seven or eight different ones. He seemed a little caught unaware when lester holt asked
it. Is that, in fact, the standard of record . He since has backed off from that. The one thing that isnt is a perjury trap. That is a legitimate question for investigation. Now hes scared of the question because mueller knows things that he doesnt know. But thats the position of the prosecutor. So hell ask questions. And he could be quote, unquote trapped into saying something false. Not a perjury trap. Thats just standard questions from a prosecutor. Right. Not perjury. Not a Perjury Trap House, just straightforward questions. Joyce, finally on roger stone, so many of his aids being pulled into this. Do you see a