Exploring issues that affect leaders in the U. S. And around the globe. Howard fineman, an nbc news analyst who spent his tuesday in judge ellis courtroom marveling at Paul Manaforts wardrobe. Anyway, mimi, let me start with you. Define Obstruction Of Justice and is it something that has to be done in secret for it to be a crime . Sure, chuck. I want to answer the second part first. It does not have to be done in secret. The definition of Obstruction Of Justice, there are different prongs of it, depending on whether youre trying to interfere with witnesses or tamper with evidence. Its basically trying to impede an investigation corruptly, with corrupt intent, which simply could mean youre trying to stop an investigation because you dont like that that investigation is zeroing in on you or your close friends, so it cant be it has to be for a bad purpose and those would be bad purposes. And thats why this tweet right now looks so incriminating because whats happening you believe its very
they put out documents in january that demonstrated some of the essential facts we knelt note that leading to overwhelming amount of efforts that demonstrated that this probably came from this virology lab. we overcame lots of internal bureaucracy and lots of internal debate from folks who were trying to suppress what we were doing the state department as well. you heard him this morning. the exact same excuses the exact same theories that the chinese communist party has been present for over a year now. let s talk about it. and several new departments. the former s victory of state said it was a two-pronged pushback. the nih as well. i asked him about this funding. we give money, we set parameters on it. we can t guarantee it. but it s in place there was a little bit of worry about it. they knew what it was for. there s a paper trail a mile along to shannon. they even say on video what they were doing. gain of function.
they put out documents in january that demonstrated some of the essential facts we knelt note that leading to overwhelming amount of efforts that demonstrated that this probably came from this virology lab. we overcame lots of internal bureaucracy and lots of internal debate from folks who were trying to suppress what we were doing the state department as well. you heard him this morning. the exact same excuses the exact same theories that the chinese communist party has been present for over a year now. let s talk about it. and several new departments. the former s victory of state said it was a two-pronged pushback. the nih as well. i asked him about this funding. we give money, we set parameters on it. we can t guarantee it. but it s in place there was a little bit of worry about it. they knew what it was for. there s a paper trail a mile along to shannon. they even say on video what they were doing. gain of function.
the idea people are opposing him to seek some form of revenge for the clintons unseemly and untoward and also something that hasn has imperilled his nomination. i don t think republicans would have rallied to him as we ve seen and republicans who have rallied to him include never trump republicans, maga hat wearing republicans. we ve not seen this kind of engagement. it s genuine. not partisan. a real perception there s a wrong here. the protestations of the chief not with standing, the american bar association has recommended him highly, he has a paper trail a mile long, i has demonstrated his fitness for the bench and his recommendation comes reportedly from justice kennedy himself. so we have to weigh one statement against a career that has been otherwise exemplary. all right. ashley parker, nina, thank you
but the chances of paul manafort getting off scott free are extremely low, extremely low. they ve got a paper trail a mile long. how mad do you get, michael, when you watch somebody and find out that guy got away without paying taxes? nothing to do with how much it was, ten bucks or ten thousand. that s where this gets really interesting for a lot of folks as they watch this narrative unfold. the one thing, going with your football, opening day analogy. he went to baseball too. he went all over. is the optics of it. and that s the one that i think that donald trump can t control here is the images of the court. you know, we don t have tv inside the courtroom. so the narrative coming out of the courtroom he can t control. the optics from what s being drawn and the artist sketches can t be controlled. and so mueller has a keen i think a keen advantage here in laying out the case in a way all he needs is one conviction on the 18 to 20 or whatever charges are before him. he doesn