Rachel Maddow takes a look at the days top political news stories. Has publicly verifiable information, tread lightly. Dont go too fast around this corner. This may be someone trying to trip you up. On top of the mcgahn and cohen news, there have been a bunch of new developments today and into this evening including one that relates to this guy. Remember this guy . He is the one person who has gone to prison already. Actually served his custodial sentence in the russia scandal. His name is alex van der zwaan. Hes a lawyer that served 30 days in federal lockup as punishment for lying to investigators about his role in one of Paul Manaforts foreign lobbying gigs. It has always been possible there was a Big Biographical coincidence about him. It is totally possible its a coincidence. But one of the more intriguing details about him, who has
oligarchs. He described them as having a close relationship with putin. They said significant favors continue to be done in both directions. Quote, still giving still giving informal advice to putin. Especially on the u. S. So thats whats in the steel d dossier about alpha bank. They could each other favors. Further, they maybe funneled money to putin in his st. Petersburg days. This is not the worlds most salacious stuff. But it has taken on a life of its own. Republicans in congress, president trump, the white house more broadly, they have spent months trying to turn the steel dossier itself boo a huge scandal. It is against one serving Justice Department official. Because bruce ohrs wife worked
at fusion gps. Mr. Ohr appears to have contact himself with Christopher Steel during the campaign. So House Republicans have gone along with the attacks on the dossier, the attacks on anybody associated with the dossier, and they are now going i know what the attacks on the Justice Department official who the Justice Department has singled out as being connected to the dossier. House republicans have summoned bruce ohr. They threatened a subpoena but he will appear voluntarily. So there is been all this drama in the u. S. Around the steele dossier. Which continues to rattle around. But the other threatening action related to the steele dossier has been lawsuits. These lawsuits, like the one, filed by herman khan
and the other founders of alpha bank. Today a judge dismissed the Defamation Lawsuits against Christopher Steele and orbis business intelligence. It was dismissed with prejudice which means the plaintiffs cannot bring it up again. So alpha bank. We still dont know if there was anything operational when it came to efforts to interfere in the 2016 election or any potential Trump Campaign involvement in that effort. Weve seen no Firm Evidence but lots of suggestions about that possibility. We still dont know if it is just a coincidence. We still dont know if theres anything shady about the fact brian, hired by alpha bank to get them out of that russia related scandal ends up in a senior position at the u. S. Justice department. But at least we do have this one
conclusive statement today. The effort to sue, to make their connection to the steele dossier go away. Today that lawsuit failed in a way that seems quite definitive. The next person to go to prison in the Trump Scandal might be George Papadopoulos. Late friday we learned the special counsel recommended to the judge in this case that George Papadopoulos should serve up to six months in prison. The actual recommendation range it was zero to six months in prison. The great lynn sweet at the Chicago Sun Times report that George Papadopouloss lawyers intend to ask the judge in this case for zero jail time. The formal response to the Sentencing Recommendation is due at the end of next week. When you look at the Sentencing Recommendation for George Papadopoulos from the special counsels office, from the prosecutors, it was really not good for him. Aside from the range of
potential prison time they are suggesting, the way they describe papadopouloss behavior is not complimentary to him. It is not designed to put him in good stead in the eyes of the judge. The prosecutors told the court, the Plea Agreement entered into was not a standard cooperation agreement. Prosecutors merely agreed to bring to the courts attention at sentencing the defendants efforts to cooperate with the government. What prosecutors ended up bringing to the courts attention at sentencing was tenpage long list of ways in which George Papadopoulos didnt help them out at all. Quote, the defendant did not provide substantial assistance. The prosecutors later said that he lied over and over again in ways that materially hurt the governments case. Quote, the defendants crime was serious, both in terms of the underlying conduct and its effect on the investigation. The defendant knew the questions he was asked by the fbi were important and he knew his
answers were false at the time he gave them. His lies negatively affected fbis russia investigation and prevented the fbi from effectively identifying and confronting witnesses in a timely fashion. They were not momentary lapses. He lied repeatedly over the course of more than two hours. The sentence imposed should reflect lying to federal investigators has real consequences. Especially where the defendant lied to investigators about critical facts and an investigation of national importance. After having been explicitly warned that lying to the fbi is a federal offense. The nature and circumstances of the Offense Warrant a sentence of incarceration. So a couple things to watch. Number one, this is the government emphatically saying, George Papadopoulos should do jail time. According to lynn sweets report, they said he shouldnt do any jail time at all. But reference there that i read from the Sentencing Recommendation, this part here. The Plea Agreement entered into was not a standard cooperation agreement. That raises the possibility George Papadopoulos may have some ongoing criminal liability here. This is not a recommendation that says, you know, listen, judge, our deal has been upheld on both sides. This guy was really helpful to us. Not that. Theyre saying he didnt help us and he lied. This was not a formal agreement. We said we told the judge, if he helped us when it came time. Theyre saying, no, he didnt help us. The prospect of additional criminal liability. Some indictment, some new indictment in the future. Now that we know the government says he wasnt an earnest cooperator, that now looms over
this little part of this case. And the sense that there is something important unresolved and it comes to George Papadopoulos was helped along by this Public Statement that he made today on twitter. 4 00 this afternoon. Ill quote it directly. Quote, been a hell of a year. Decisions. As a point of fact im not sure how many decisions he has to make. Well get some Expert Advice on that in a moment. The last set of developments in todays news related to the scandal. Centered around the campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who incidentally, has a notable new neighbor. As of this weekend. In a move that was described as surprise to all involved friday night, look who moved in. Accused Russian Foreign agent maria butina. On friday night was moved from the jail in d. C. Where she was
held since she was arrested in july. They took her out of that jail friday night and brought her over to where Paul Manafort lives now which is the federal lockup in alexandria, virginia. The reason we have this unflattering picture of her is because i think shes been moved to that new facility in virginia. You see the alexandria sheriffs office. I think we get mug shots from that facility. Thats why weve got Paul Manaforts mug shot, too. She hasnt been convicted of anything. Shes being held in jail before her trial because prosecutors thought she would be a flight risk. Basically, they argued to the judge that the russians would spirit her out of the country before she cover face charges if the judge left her out on the street. Thats why she has not been let out on the street. But now for whatever reason, they have moved her from one
lockup to another. That means shes only about two blocks away from where Paul Manaforts trial has been underway in virginia. Thats not the courthouse where shell be tried. Shell be tried in washington, d. C. We know it is not unheard of for people waiting to end up in this Virginia Jail instead. And it is surprising that nobody knows why she was moved. According to her lawyer, neither she nor her lawyer had any notice before it happened 40 night. Her attorney said, i got a collect call. I was discon nkted before i would speak. He visited her this morning. She was not in, i am still unaware of the reason. We contacted him today to see if he had learned today why his client was moved from d. C. To virginia. He told us, quote, no news. I have no answers yet. You can ask the Marshals Service. It is their call. We did ask the Marshals Service and they didnt call us back. Surprise if we do get a call back from them, i will let you know. Theres no reason to think that theyll have contact with each other while theyre in the same jail but it is weird that they are now both in the same jail. In terms of Paul Manaforts case, we are expecting to get prosecutors list of evidence that they planned to use against manafort in his next criminal trial due to start next month in Federal Court in d. C. The evidence list has been described as containing over 1,000 items. The deadline for the list is to be made public, is that it should be made public tomorrow. That should be a big long list. It should be a very interesting window into what Paul Manaforts next prosecution might look like. And meanwhile, were still waiting on the jury and his first felony trial. The jury considering manaforts fate in virginia, they deliberated all day thursday, they deliberated all day friday. The judge sent them home over the week. Theyve deliberated all day today. At 4 49 today, the judge announced the jury would stay late. Last week they broke at 5 00. Today, they asked to deliberate until later. They wanted to stay deliberating until at least 6 15 p. M. Maybe they might be planning to release a verdict on manafort tonight. That turned out not to be the case. The court reconvened after 6 00 and many the judge announced, once again no verdict. They will come back tomorrow to start deliberating again at 9 30 in the morning. So two questions. First of all, with a jury deliberating over the course of nine hours today and 24 hours in total. Is that starting to feel like a watching the jury as they go on for the long stretches, not asking questions anymore, like they did on the first day, do you find that to be heartening or disheartenning, or do we not know. Consecuti second question, Last Question. Is it weird that the jury is like, on the loose, out in the wild . Not sequestered, they are sent home every night. They were sent home for the whole weekend t judge himself suggested that the jurors may be reasonably afraid for their own safety. He stated in court, he received
threats in the case, he has decided to not release the jurors names, but he allowed Courtroom Artists to show us what they look like and they are ming he wi and they are minge with the public, and with the media, and anybody that has business at the courthouse. Meanwhile, with the jurors on the loose, despite the fact that the judge is talking about the potential danger that they are in. He is admonishing them. Theres an unusual amount of Ambient Noise and pressure on this case. On which these jurors are deliberating. From the start of the trial, the president of the United States has made Public Statements praising the department. Every day, 2, thre3, 4, 5, 6 tia day, the president makes statements denouncing the prosecution in the case. And he has been praising the defendant, and denouncing the prosecution, he daily denounces the special Councils Office, in terms that are so stark that it may be tough for the jurors to avoid it. Calling them angry democrat thugs that are ruining peoples lives. Saying its a rigged investigation. The president deriding Robert Mueller and the special Councils Office is deriding the prosecution in the case. President s have avoided weighing in on pending criminal cases to avoid the appearance of influence on Jury Deliberations or any other aspect of a pending case. In this case, with had this president with this
president , its the opposite. He is absolutely trying to influence the case. And i know it is rare to sequester a jury to put a jury in a hotel and not give them contact with their homes or the outside world until they have a verdict. I know its rare to do that. But given the very unusual firehose of Public Invecta from the sitting president of the United States, clearing trying to influence the verdict of the jury, is this one of those rare case where is the jury should have been sequestered in joining us now is barbara mcquaid, barbe, thank you so much, its nice to see you. Oh, my pleasure to be here. Nice to see you. I believe, and again, i dont know the things. Its my impression that its a rare thing for a jury to be sequestered but judges do order it when theres a high profile
case or the jurors have a particularly high risk that they will not be able to avoid Media Exposure or pressure on their to he poe verdict, is that true . Its rare that a jury is sequestered. I have not seen it in Federal Court, but ive seen it in the state high profile cases. The bill cosby, and o. J. Simpson, theres a few where theres high profile cases. But one difference between state court and Federal Court proceedings, they are not televised, you are not going to see Television Tofootage of the trial, its expensive and the other reason, you do not want to punishes pressu you dont wan put pressure on juries to want to get home. So, aside from that, the expense. I have never seen it done in Federal Court. And in terms of the president s remarks on this
case, i see his remarks here as being so starkly positive toward the defendants lamenting what he describes as mistreatment, and unfair prosecution of the defendant and of course, his h withering attacks against the prosecutors, those look like the kind of statements from a president that may be designed to influence a jurys verdict. What can the judge do, other than instructing the jury to not Pay Attention to it to protect them from those kind of pressures . The judge does give that instruction, a standard instruction, when i was in the court, he gave it every day, not to read anything in the media and discuss anything in the case. Theres case law that says the jurors are prezsumed to follow the instructions, unless proved otherwise. If they do get inadvertently exposesed to something. They are expected to self
report. Theres four alternates in the case. If someone came in and s and said, i was home and saw this on the television, they could be replaced with an alternate. But i think a judge would likely ask them, what did you hear . Has it influenced you . Can you set it aside and decide the case based on the facts and the law that you hear in the court . Most people can say yes, can i set it aside. So, you know, certainly they are highly inflammatory and highly irregular. The prosecutors are not allowed to say anything about the guilt of its shocking that a president would say these things about a criminal defendant. One Last Question for you, barb, what do you make of the length of time that the jury is deliberating . Its not cause for concern yet. Its the case that the longer a jury deliberates the more likely there is that theres a hung
juror or a hold out. I dont think we have gone on that long yet. They say its usually a day of deliberation for every week of testimony, with the complexity of the case and the fact that the judge did not allow the prosecutors to always publish or display the documents at the time they were discussed and he would say, they can look at it later, is causing a lengthier deliberation. You know, he speeded up the trial, the cost is the longer deliberation. And we end up on the edge of our seat. Busy monday night, stay with us. I just switched to geico and got more. More . Got a company i can trust. Thats a heck of a lot more. Over 75 years of great savings and service. You cant argue with more. Why would ya . Geico. Expect great savings and a whole lot more. Addon advantage. Discounted hotel rates when you add on to your trip. Only when you book with expedia. This wifi is fast. I know i know i know