Running. Thats tonights last word. The 11th hour with Brian Williams starts right now. Tonight donald trump and his new Jersey Golf Club after a wild ride of a week moving the goal posts on collusion calling for an end to the Mueller Investigation and a full on assault on the media all while his own team beats the drum warning of the russia threat. Plus new developments in the Paul Manafort case. The testimony today that compelled his wife to leave the courtroom. And after another stunning week in this presidency well ask a celebrated historian if theres anything to celebrate in the history we are witnessing. The 11th hour on a friday night begins now. Well, good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Day 561 this was of the trump
Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. Sharpest attacks for his critics, the news media. Even these horrible horrendous people say look at it, it looks like the academy awards. You ever see this . Lets say im running against Pol Pocahontas or crazy bernie. Ive got to hand it to bernie. I saw him up there the other day. That hair is getting whiter and whiter. I had obamacare done except one guy at 2 00 in the morning went in and said you know who that new leader is, Maxine Waters. Very low iq. Low iq. They can make anything bad because they are the fake, fake, g disgusting news. On that note lets bring in our lead off panel on a friday
night. Jonathan allen, coauthor of the bestseller shattered about the hillary campaign. Jill winebanks. Jonathan lemere, White House Reporter of the associated press, and jackie calmes. Welcome mr. Lemere, id like to begin with you. As long as president s have vacations white houses have rushed in to say no, no, no this is Working Vacation. Calling this a Working Vacation is one of the most traditional things this white house has ever done. Having established that, you reported just days ago, jonathan, this president was in a very dark place. Is he in any brighter confines even including the fact he likes rallies like that for what we just saw . Hey, brian. He is one of the nations greatest states tonight, as he
heads back tomorrow for a rally as you said. Last night in pennsylvania i think betrayed where his mood was though he was at times jovial and sort of jocular with the crowd, he had a lot of venom shall we say towards the media. And it came just hours after his National Security staff finally did what people have wanted to hear for a long time. Chastatize russias interference in 2016 and outline steps to prevent them from doing it again while sounding the alarm, this threat is very real from moskow is should be taken seriously. Just six hours later in Northeast Pennsylvania the president downplays it, suggests the whole thing is a hoax. And then turns Withering Scorn on the media that was there. Suggesting that we were treating him unfairly, sort of reappropriating the idea of fake news. No longer as his criticism of a report that he thinks is
inaccurate or rather a report he thinks is unfair or unkind to him. Therefore labeling us as his enemy. Though he didnt use Enemy Of The State yesterday he certainly described us as disgusting horrible people. This is the white house as you say suggesting its a Working Vacation. We didnt lay eyes on him, and hell be back out there again tomorrow. A day after behaving himself on twitter like he did today, i think we all expect that once again it wont just be the news media in his cross hairs but the russia probe, which has followed him throughout whether hes in the white house or in bedminster. What did you see and note in the arena that perhaps Wasnt Obvious On Television . Well, it was one of the horribles. I guess it rhymes with deplorables, the difference being the news media is just trying to report the facts. I can only imagine what the president things of the people actually opposing him
politically. This rally i think was a boisterous one. The president was pretty pumped up and jazzed up as jonathan said compared to how he was earlier in the week. Hes obviously feeling a lot of pressure. But one of the things i noticed yesterday is he really emphasized immigration in this particular speech. Hes in a part of the country that has seen a big influx of hispanic immigrants over the course of the last decade or so. Its a big issue for his base. He went to all of those and you played some of those earlier, some of those Greatest Hits whether its Maxine Waters or nancy pelosi or chuck schumer, certainly referencing some of the other Greatest Hits. And whats important about that, brian, is as hes ramping up for the midterms hes not really trying to expand the Republican Base but really fire up his supporters and get them
energized. Hes seen a period in his presidency, throughout his presidency thats been very static in terms of his approval ratings. So its going to be on the basis of every last republican turning out, particularly every last base supporter. I think we can expect to hear more and more of what we heard last night. Youve covered a story or two in the panthions of donald trump. And just yesterday after his Intelligence Community came out and talked about the russia threat he came out and called it a hoax. Where does this rank in the trump weeks of his presidency . I actually think its no worse as some of the worst. But when you look at it substantively it was really
important. Because when you think about it here we are more than a year and a half after hes taken office, and were coming up on two years after he was elected. The unanimous consensus of the Intelligence Community, of this country is that we were attacked by our bigger adversary, russia. And for the first time in the past week he presided over a meeting the first time, a meeting of his National Security council. It lasted somewhere between under an hour, maybe just a har halfhour before he went off to bedminster for his golf club for last weekend. So this week because the administration feels so on the defensive theyre not doing enough. Were just three months away from a Midterm Election where the Intelligence Community is saying that russia is continuing to try to subvert our elections, they bring five top National Security officials before the press corp in the Briefing Room to Say Something the president
himself has never said publicly. That was a tablo that should have been played out in the east room perhaps as the president himself at the mic. And as your guests have said as you said the president was there in wipennsylvania at a crowd of his supporters calling it a hoax. Its a wonder to me some of these people havent resigned. But i think it comes back to the original sentiment a lot of people had joining this administration, theyre doing this for their country. Theyre doing it in effect, i mean its not going too far to say to protect this country from the president. Jill, jackie just said a series of really important things and now we need to know what it looks like from a lawyers perspective. If you were Rudy Giuliani or jay
sekulow or the white House Counsel or the raskens attorneys at law, how would you view this past week . I would be very concerned. I think that the president s actions have been more obstruction. Theres no question that his tweets saying that Attorney General Sessions should stop the investigation is an active act of obstruction of justice. I also think that his tweet that the hoax about hoax and the manafort trial, saying that theres no collusion there and the trials a hoax, could be seen as jury tampering. He is clearly playing to his base and doing everything he can to undermine the russia investigation. He has done nothing to protect the country, and i think its a serious problem for him from a legal perspective. Its really bad. Jonathan lemere, as we say in new jersey just for a little bon
mat, the staff for the 4 00 p. M. Hour put together a collection, this is not necessarily everything, a collection of some of things that were said in wilkberry that were not true. Highways we have done to two years very shortly. U. S. Steel is opening up several plants. Ill tell you what, russia is very unhappy that trump won. That i can tell you. I raised 44 billion last year, and i dont know if you know, nato funding was going down. Chain migration, and this was the schumer deal. Schumer wanted this. Republicans just passed the biggest tax cuts in the history of our country. So jonathan lemere, what is the white house process when the president goes out . The president has a pretty unconventional relationship with
the truth, brian. And i think for the most part the white house process resembles this. I think that they try to cleanup some of this stuff, but they also know theres a sense around the building and not just white house aides but every so often the president just needs to blow off some steam. Lets also remember this is something that predates his political cull rear. From his day as as Real Estate Developer in new york, looking to make himself a celebrity, he would sort of push his own version of the truth. He would lie to reporters, he would lie in public. And he would do it so often it seemed as if he was convincing himself it was real. And were seeing that since the moment he came down the escalator at trump tower years ago that a lot of his supporters are willing to go with him. They trust him far more than say the news media. And the most perhaps telling of
those that you really just played is the one where he suggested Vladimir Putin did not want him to win. Lets remember just a couple weeks ago in helsinki Vladimir Putin was asked that very question. Who did you want to win in 2016, and he said donald trump. And so this is now an argument the president has made on twitter suggesting if there is election interference maybe its the russians helping the democrats. And that just goes to show you not only can he not be taken at face value, but this is hovering over him russia, and the Mueller Probe seems to be inching closer and closer to his family and the pressure to end the investigation are only going to accelerate. And as we watch that, we watch the president s position on all things Russia Hardening sharpening. Right. Again, sort of in contrast to what we saw of those officials
all of whom at different times said before that russia had interfered in the 2016 election might be doing so in 2018. They obviously felt like their message wasnt getting out. They banded together, wept to the white house Briefing Room, gave this stunning sort of condemnation of washington continuing to have this ongoing effort to undermine american democracy and then you have the president of the United States split screen going there saying never mind what my top aides are saying. Never mind all this is disrupting my relationship with putin who didnt want me to win. And of course for those of us who were in the room in helsinki when putin was asked that, you dont have to speak a lot of russian to know that the answer to the question of did you want trump to win was basically duh. Putin was just like yes, yes, yes, i wanted trump to win. The lies mount up. Its so hard when youre in the room at those rallies to count them. Theyre coming so fast. You showed several clips. There must have been another halfdozen at least. I know in one case he said that bob casey, the sitting senator there wants to abolish i. C. E. Not true. Jackie, at the same time the assaults on the media are getting sharper and more frequent and the crowd is getting into it more. They are, and it is really concerning. I dont think your audience can really appreciate what its like to be a reporter in what we call the press pool when you are, you know, shepherded into those big rallies and the audience is looking at you and its clear who the reporters are and the camera crews carrying their equipment and such, and you get the hissing and the booing and the yelling and the middle fingers going up in the air, and its really threatening. What a lot of people dont know is that during the president ial campaign, long before now, some of the correspondents had to have security. At one point, you know, Secret Service would escort them but at other points their employers hired security to be with them. Thats unprecedented. And theres only one reason for it. Because people are goaded by donald trump himself to be negative against the press. And whats really hypocritical about it is donald trump himself personally can be quite nice to these reporters and call them up on the phone. But, you know, were an easy foil for his base that he plays to. Jill winebanks i keep hearing folks within your line of work keep saying things like i wouldnt want to be roger stone right now. I say that in way of asking you what big move are you looking for next in the Mueller Investigation . Well, first let me say im
also glad im a lawyer on tv not a journalist because it is really scary to listen to that rally. And its also scary as a citizen to worry about the freedom of the press. But as to roger stone its very interesting. He seems to be clearly identified in the russian hacking indictment as one of the u. S. Citizens involved. And of course we know that he was in touch with guccifer 2. 0 and with wikileaks and now all of the people who surrounded him are being called as witnesses. As you pointed out in your opening Kirstin Davis is the most repeat one. And assumption is shes being call bide roger stone of something she knows nothing about, but she was actually released from jail in may of 2016 just before the trump tower
meeting, and just before a lot of the guccifer 2. 0 stuff started. So thats not much of an excuse for what she might know. And it could also be that she has information on other people connected to the Trump Campaign from her prior business. So we dont know what shes going to be asked or has been asked by mueller. And the evidence, though, is mounting against roger stone, and he should be worried. And instead of commenting on muellers wardrobe choices today he should be worried about his defense. Our front four brought their agame on a friday night in early august and we sure appreciate it. Thank you all very much for joining us and helping us on this broadcast. Coming up giuliani says a decision on this trumpmueller sit down will come in the next ten days. And as well remind you again in a few minutes, weve been here before. Later on the presidency, the
press, just what kind of history are we watching get made these days . President ial historian john meacham is here with us as were just getting under way on a friday night. Talk to your doctor and say yesss to linzess. Yesss linzess treats adults with ibs with constipation or chronic constipation. Linzess can help relieve your belly pain, and lets you have more frequent and complete bowel movements. See if youre eligible to get 90 days for as little as 30 dollars. Do not give linzess to children less than 6 and it should not be given to children 6 to less than 18, it may harm them. Do not take linzess if you have a bowel blockage. Get immediate help if you develop unusual or severe stomach pain, especially with bloody or black stools. The most common side effect is diarrhea, sometimes severe. If its severe, stop taking linzess and call your doctor right away. Other side effects include gas, stomacharea pain, and swelling. So say yesss to help for recurring constipation. Yesss to help for belly pain. Talk to your doctor and say yesss linzess. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Welcome back. If you believe Rudy Giuliani, President Trump and his legal team are very near a decision on a trumpmueller sit down interview. Heres our second reminder, weve been here before. That did not stop politico from writing tonight, quote, trumps legal team will spend the weekend contemplating a new set of parameters and make a decision thereafter. Quote, i think our decisions will get made in the next ten days giuliani told politico. He added our team is deciding onto decliep an interview altogether. According to giuliani the latest proposal from mueller offered to narrow the set of questions related to obstruction. Here now a reminder of one of it previous occasions when we were close to a decision for an interview. Well, you said now july 4th is when you expect to have a decision on whether the president will sit for an interview with the Special Counsel. Why are you dragging it out . Dont you know what you want to do now . Yeah, sure. I dont want to do it. Well, the president wants to do it. It is now past the fourth of july. Where do we stand . Well, i think were pretty much decided where we are, and we await the decision of the independent counsel. We would not recommend an interview for the president
unless they can satisfy us that theres some basis for this investigation. And it seems like over the weekend you made some news that it seems like youre moving more and more against the idea of the president sitting down with bob mueller. That could be true. We havent made a final decision. Theres still a slight opening. When are you going to find out . I think a couple maybe this week, maybe next week. The last time you told us was july 4th, mr. Mayor. Well, a lots happened since july fourth. Jack is the formal Special Counsel for the house banking committee, these days known as the special white house committee. We can close our eyes and read any version of it from three weeks ago, three months ago. The president who wants to talk, the attorneys cautioning him and
the big bad Special Counsel wants to catch him offguard. We can say about this president he is expansive, tends to be narcissistic and tangential when he starts talking. Doesnt that mean there are a million ways for him to get into trouble even if there are ground rules for this . Absolutely. That kind of client, a ceo or a highly placed public official, they have those positions because they are confident and persuasive and fluent. And they tend to believe and overestimate their ability to persuade prosecutors and agents of the righteousness of their position. Prosecutors and agents are generally in the business of building cases not deconstructing them, and they come to an interview with that mindset. So it can be a very precarious situation for the president to go into an Interview Ground Rules or no. So, jack, to your ground rules point let me ask you this, lets say they agree on ground rules, we can agree on this but not this, the president starts to talk but takes them into an area that had been walled off by ground rules. Thats now open. Thats fair game, correct . That happens often just because of the dynamic of an interview especially a voluntary interview as opposed to, for example, some compelled testimony before a grand jury. Either because the witness wants to say his or her piece and gets off topic, so to speak, or Defense Counsel thinks no harm is being done or even some haze
is being made and lets it go on. I think in this the former circumstance would be more likely than the latter. Is there any chance of that happening . I would estimate that that is a low chance in that thus far at least whats been released publicly, any case involving the president seems to be highly circumstantial. Of course we dont know whats transpired before a grand jury or what witnesses may have told Special Counsel. But one of the best ways from a prosecutors Point Of View from turning a circumstantial case into a Director Case is to get a statement from the witness mouth, the subjects mouth that is untrue or inaccurate or can be portrayed so believably. So it would change the game for everybody if the president were to submit to an interview. Jack, this is why we wanted to toss you a few questions tonight. Thank you as always for saying yes and coming on the broadcast. We appreciate it. Jack sherman back with us tonight. Coming up for us what Paul Manaforts former accountant admitted today she once did for the man on trial. Information valuable enough, by the way, to give todays witness immunity from prosecution. That is more when we come back. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens brown paper packages tied up with strings these are a few of My Favorite Things
these are a few of My Favorite Things does it look like im done . Yet . Shouldnt you be at work . [ mockingly ] shouldnt you be at work . Todd. Hold on. [ engine revs ] arcade game fist pump your real bikes all fixed. Man, you guys are good well, we are the numberone Motorcycle Insurer in the country. Wait. You have a real motorcycle . And real insurance, with 24hour customer support. Arcade game wipeout oh well. I retire as champion. Game hog champion. Get your groove on with one a day 50 . Get ready for the wild life complete multivitamins with key nutrients that address 6 concerns of aging, including heart health, supported by bvitamins. Your one a day is showing. Phone Ringing es offers big button,lized phones. And volumeenhanced phones. Get details on this state program. Visit right now or call during business hours. Today, lifechanging technology from abbott is helping hunt them down at their source. Because the faster we can identify new viruses, the faster we can get to stopping them. The most personal technology, is technology with the power to change your life. Life. To the fullest. And accessoriesphones for your mobile phone. Like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. Phone Ringing get details on this state Program Visit right now or call during business hours. A key witness today in the trial for President Trumps former Campaign Chairman admitted she cooked the books in an effort to help Paul Manafort hide money. Testifying with immunity his now former account want said she helped Paul Manafort and his former associate rick gates commit tax fraud by falsifying documents. Prosecutors are trying to prove manafort evaded taxes on millions while working for a prorussia party in ukraine and then faked Loan Documents once the cash dried up. With us for more tonight ken delaney in our nbc news intelligence and National Security reporter and eric tucker, Justice Department reporter for the associated press. Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Ken, how effective was today . And part of whats getting the press today is mrs. Manafort was driven at some point to leave the courtroom because she got
emotional. Thats right, brian. That seemed like a pretty interesting moment. It came when another book keeper was discussing the fact he was not aware that Paul Manafort had control of all these foreign aaccounts in cypress. And thats really important because he prepared manaforts taxes and manafort had an obligation to disclose those accounts of more than 10,000. And while the testimony was understated at some opponent mrs. Manafort, kathleen manafort, began to dab her eye, got slightly emotional and got up and left the courtroom. When i heard that had happened i thought, okay, im not crazy. Its true this trial is going very poorly for mr. Fmanafort. Because if you look at manafort you dont get that, hes look at his lawyers seeming like everything is fine. But the evidence has been very damning. And the defense thus far has been quite ineffective. Theyve essentially stipulated to most of the facts, and i guess their story is going to be that these frauds and the failure to properly fill out tax forms was inadvertent, not intentional, brian. Ive heard this called a paper case where while it can be on the boring side the feds like a paper case because Paper Cant Get Cross examined. Having said that where do you think the opportunities are as they go by in realtime for the defense to come back and take jabs . I think, brian, on monday afternoon were going to see the defense cross examine the very same government witness that was on the stand today. And i agree with my friend ken that the government scored some critical points. But i do think theres an opportunity she gave to the defense that shes under their Immunity Agreement which means
shes not going to be prosecuted for anything she says on the stand. So the defense can basically use that to say, okay, you yourself this tax preparer youve acknowledged and engaged in wrongdoing yourself, so she might not exactly have pristine hands. And i think theyre going to try to exploit that. And then when we see rick gates, who is Paul Manaforts business associate, i think theres no question the defense is going to subject him to a grueling cross examineination. Their whole point is the crimes werent actually committed by him but by gates and the negligence of the Tax Professionals he employed around him. Lets go to the other side of the coin and that is the prosecution. Gates could be a devastating withering witness because of how deep into Paul Manaforts life and career he was. Yeah, thats right. And they set it up today by
asking witnesses about the status of mr. Gates, and he was repeatedly described as manaforts right hand man. He was repeatedly giving instructions to the tax preparers. The defense could argue hes the one responsible for these middeeds and hes going to have to come in and acknowledge hes lied to the fbi. It could be a really tough moments for the prosecution, but i would argue they have established so much evidence without gates. Cindy reported tuesday as eric said some of these other Tax Prepapers and book keepers and the days of testimony of all the luxury goods manafort bought, that his tax returns clearly say he did want have. Eric, unt those very luxury
goods, this speaks to the judge to say he is brisk is an understatement. He hasnt allowed the art to come into the courtroom, he says the jurors will get that into the jury room. Hes told both sides take a week out of your arguments. Hes moving it along so much ive heard the feds say he could hurt the case a bit because hes taking some of the juice out of the federal case. Having said that about the judge, sometimes you can tell Jury Interest by looking at them as a journalist. Whats your view of this jury . I would say the jury just like Paul Manafort actually seems really engaged for the most part in the trial even though its a real document heavy case, there arent really perry mason points, but i do
think theyre engaged. Theres also no question, brian, that the judge himself is part of whats keeping the jury entertained. He is making them laugh. Hes making the courtroom gallery laugh. I think hes making the prosecution laugh much less than that, frankly. But theres no question that this judge ellis has become part of the story, and he is working assiduously to make sure Paul Manafort gets as fair of a trial as possible. Hes trying to appeal proof the case so if theres a verdict against manafort and he wants to appeal it, which he no doubt would want to do, he wont be able to say anything ellis did in the courtroom is responsible for him losing the case. So he is trying very hard to keep out any sort of potential prejudicial testimony about all sorts of luxury items or garish details of a lavish lifestyle. But we did, of course, learn about the ostrich jacket which was the dominant headline of the first week of the trial. Still making the rounds. This judge appointed by Ronald Reagan who says he doesnt have email and doesnt intend to start now. Thank you very much of what i know was a long day on top of a long week. We appreciate it. Coming up, donald trump talks a lot about his accomplishments as president. Some true, some not so much. Well talk about all of it with a Pulitzer Prize recipient when The 11th Hour continues. With drivewise. It lets you know when you go too fast. And brake too hard. With feedback to help you drive safer. Giving you the power to actually lower your cost. Unfortunately, it cant do anything about that. Now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . Now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller im Gonna Follow The Sun now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller im Gonna Follow The Sun transitionsâ„¢ light under controlâ„¢
sfx [cell phone dialing] trno. Itionsâ„¢ no, no, no, no, no. Cancel. Cancel. Please. Aaagh being in the know is a good thing. Thats why discover will alert you if your Social Security number is found on any one of thousands of risky sites. Our economy is soaring, our jobs are booming. Were crushing the terrorists. Weve started the wall, 1. 6 billion. 3. 7 million new jobs. Americas steel mills are roaring again. We saved our family farms and our small businesses. We are going to keep on winning. We are going to win so much perhaps some of you but not all will get tired of winning. Anybody going to get tired of winning . A list of accomplishments
from last night, many of them without any regard for the truth. Coming up, theres also this. Complaining about News Coverage thats oldfashioned. Thats what president s used to do. Every one of them, in fact, did. This president has taken it a big step further. Well look at all of it when we come back. Oh oh ozempic® vo people with Type 2 Diabetes are excited about the potential of onceweekly ozempic®. In a study with ozempic®, a majority of adults lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than seven and maintained it. Oh under seven . vo and you may lose weight. In the same oneyear study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. Oh up to 12 pounds . vo a twoyear study showed that ozempic® does not increase the risk of major cardiovascular events like heart attack, stroke, or death. Oh no increased risk . Ozempic® ozempic® should not be the first medicine for treating diabetes,
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set your seat height to its maximum level. Bravo, tall meeting man. Start winning today. Book now at lq. Com you might or joints. Hing for your heart. Start winning today. But do you take something for your brain. With an ingredient originally discovered in jellyfish, prevagen has been shown in Clinical Trials to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Over time. A few days ago i called the fake news the enemy of the people, and they are. They are the enemy of the people. If you want to discover the source of the division in our country look no further than the fake news and the crooked media. They are very, very dishonest people. Fake news. But they can make anything bad because they are the fake, fake, disgusting news. Also importantly lets not forget this one from just a few days ago. What youre seeing and what youre reading is not whats happening. With us to talk about it tonight john meacham, Pulitzer Prizewinning author and historian. His latest book and its an important one is the soul of america, the battle for our angels. John, the Talking Points we just heard the president make, why is
this more pernicious than just another trump thing . Well, he is actively making the Working Press a target of the wrath of people in physical proximity one to another. Which is a really remarkable thing. As you mentioned, every president beginning with George Washington who almost did not stand for reelection, i wont say run because nobody ran against him but almost decided not to seek a second term because he was so tired of being criticized. So this drama starts in 1792. And presses forward. Whats a little different is that we used to have to at least hear from aides or in the extraordinary case of the nixon tapes, we would hear nixon himself denouncing the press. We would hear about the unhappiness of president s usually in the most casual kind of remark offhand or a leak. This is a case where the president has turned the working media into a permanent foil, political enemy and so hes basically in the tribalize the culture of the moment, he has said the media is as much an opponent of ours, meaning him and his base, as the Democratic Party or those who is oppose on pos grounds. Which takes the role of a free press and puts it in really significant jeopardy think. John, you know this next question is coming. That is, what if we need to say to the American People no,ing this next portion of the story is getting consequential for our country, presidency and the constitution. This isnt fake at all. It hasnt been more real, in fact. Well, its the perniciousness of the strategy. He has wounded the messenger. Hes opened fire on the potential outlets that will be
the means by which any damaging information will come to the people. So in that sense, its as strategic as anything he does and you know, you talk to people who know the president and a lot of them will say, you guys overthink this. Hes just making it up. Hes just rolling with whatever comes to the top of mind. As you just played, this is a consistent theme. And i think what hes done is attempted to and i think probably pretty significant throw an effective degree, he has wounded the means by which director muellers report will be reported to the people. And lord knows what else. Bret stephens has written a chilling oped in the New York Times tonight. No ones ever going to accuse him of writing unfought thoughtful pieces. This one he kind of gives a recitation of a death threat he got on voice mail and the column
ends with, wes are approaching a day when blood on the Newsroom Floor will be blood on the president s hands. John, i dont think thats an overstatement. I think its feeling just as serious as you portrayed it tonight. I think so. And one of the things about history is when we look back, we often see things in an inevitable progression. When we look back at dallas, 1963, we remember that the johnsons were jostled, people spit at lady bird from the john birch society, from the right in texas. We see that adlai stevenson, the ambassador to the United Nations was attacked with Plak Placards at a rally. We can see in retrospect all leading up to the tragedy of daley plaza. I fear and i pray that im wrong that you could be playing the tape you just played a moment
ago the sequence when in fact something terrible happens. And words have consequences. And words from the very top have the most far reaching consequences. My friend, i join you in hoping youre wrong for benefit of all of us. Jon meacham, always a pleasure. Thank you for spending part of your friday night with us. Coming up, it was something small that one of our sharpeyed experts noticed about the manafort jury this week. It may be a good sign for the prosecution. Well tell you about it when we come back. I put a spell on you yeah, because youre mine with Chase Atms Serena can now grab cash on the go, all with the tap of her phone. Stop the things you do no card . No problem. Life, lived serenas way. Chase, make more of whats yours. The last thing before we go here on a friday night, theres a lot riding on the trial weve been covering this week of former Trump Campaign chairman and jacket enthusiast Paul Manafort. Its the first trial of the mueller era and the Mueller Investigation and a guilty verdict in this first of two trials would greatly increase the pressure the government could the bring to bear against manafort. It appears to have been a good opening week for the prosecution though its often so difficult to read what jurors are thinking. Veteran courtroom lawyers look for certain things, certain behaviors to read the jury dynamic to see if things are breaking their way. Well, this week the manafort jurors asked the judge if they could bring in a Birthday Cake for one of them. It was a nice enough request. Benign enough. It was barely mentioned if at
all in the coverage. But one of our On Air Experts attorney mimi rocah, former federal prosecutor assistant u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york, saw more than just a request to bring in a Birthday Cake. As she told John Heilemann on the air here this week, a cake request is good for the government. Its a good sign for the prosecution. If i were a prosecutor in that case, i would be happy that they asked for a Birthday Cake for one of the jurors. You think theyre going to share some of the cake . No, a happy jury is a good jury for the government. Heres why. You need to acquit and 12 jurors have to agree on acquittal. To convict you need 12 to convict. On this case, unlikely you get 12 to acquit. Its a strong case. You worry about one or two lone wolf juror whos doesnt want to go along with the program and you get a hung jury