Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Jay sekulow on abc yesterday. Would that meeting constitute a violation of the law . And what you have is a situation and ive said this well over a year. You have to look at what laws, rules and Regulation Statutes are purportedly violated here. Hes been saying that for well over a year. Well over a year ago, he said the opposite about that meeting in trump tower. Remember, it was all about adoptions. I didnt hear anybody talk about babies this weekend. And there are some potentially relevant laws. For example, u. S. Code of federal regulations. Quote, a Foreign National shall not directly or indirectly make a contribution or a donation of money or other thing of value or expressly or impliedly promise to make a contribution or a donation in connection with any federal, state or local election. And, quote, no person shall knowingly solicit accept or
receive from a Foreign National any contribution or donation proh
The latest Political Developments of the day and interviews with top newsmakers are featured. We played that clip of donald trump call thing an attack on the nation. Cohen, interestingly in interviews with George Stephanopoulos and others, said the fbi was very courteous and respectful. He did not describe the raids on his home and offices as an attack on the nation. Does that seem to be more that he softened on his stance against the fbi . He seems to. I recall him saying he would take a bullet for the president. Maybe thats going into court and Pleading Guilty. But the pardon itself is a political calculation. Im not very good at that. I dont know whether hes a candidate or not. But at this point, with what he has in front of him, what he did and what he knows, he seems like hes taking the smart path, the one where he admits his guilt, sort of takes his medicine, and hopes the court will give him some consideration for that. Joyce, when you look at what lanny davis, Michael Cohens at
convicted and michael cohen took a guilty plea from federal prosecutors in new york since the previous poll. do you think that s why his approval rating is up nine points from june, now at 50%, because there has been this record of success? or might it be other things? you know, the manafort trial did get quite a bit of publicity. but i do think it s just that the americans are tired of feeling like we aren t being told the truth. that we don t know what s going on. and, you know, the russia sanctions today, when you do something important with closed press, what, so vladimir putin can t get, you know, embarrassed by news reports of it? there s just this constant sense, i think, of american people that is growing and growing. and the longer that bob mueller goes on looking at this investigation, the president thinks the american people are going to get tired of it. i think what we re finding is the american people are starting to assume that bob mueller must be finding some things. b
welcome back to the lead. politics now. deal or no deal. president trump s former campaign chief, paul manafort, is in talks with special counsel, robert mueller, about possibly pleading guilty. just days before his second trial is supposed to begin. that s according to a new report in the washington post. let s get right to cnn justice correspondent, jessica schneider. as of now, the manafort trial will proceed as scheduled? jake, that s the plan for now. the jury questionnaires have been handed out. jury selection itself set for monday. and this trial is supposed to begin on september 24th. but the question lingers with these latest reports of plea talks. will paul manafort change course and possibly strike up a deal? with the start of paul manafort s second criminal trial just days away, his team is in talks with the special counsel about a possible plea deal, according to the washington post. at this point, these are ongoing conversations that might not result in a plea. bu
amajority of americans disapprove of the idea. 11% think the pardon would be appropriate. 60% say inappropriate for cohen. numbers are similar.n. doesn t seem like there is any chance of cohen getting a pardon. but what s this business? the president keeps sending signals about how paul manafort is a good guy who didn t break. he won t discount the idea of au pardon. he is talking about getting rid of don mcgahn if he doesn t agree to pardon manafort, the manafort trial, his team has been thanking the president for their support. can they be talking about a pardon? or they can t do that? they shouldn t be. it is bad enough that trump is doing this public dance, which we have called floating pardons,