Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. Joining us now intelligence and National Security reporter for nbc news, politics editor at theroot. Com and former Chief Adviser or al gore and a former senior aid to president obama. When a trump tweet ends with National Disgrace, a tweet that includes a misspelling by the president , it reminds me of the days when misspelling was a National Disgrace when done by the Vice President of the United States, dan quayle on the word potato, days that no one can really remember at this point. Here is the president and the only reason i read the tweet is to note the level of hysteria, which increases in direct proportion, it appears, to just how disturbed the president is by the news hes reading or being read to him in the New York Times. Lawrence, you can almost say he was unhinged. You could, yes. By the way he seems to be
responding to these things. I have to say i have been avoiding that word since it became a book title. Yeah. But its a hard word to avoid. The dancing around has been very difficult given the president s actual behavior, yes. And this is a reflection of multiple things. One, again, 20something years ago the president spelling something wrong in public and correcting a child was a week long news story. Now we have a new controversy. If a scandal is happening, it might be a day that ends in y with this administration. You have a president who is constantly screaming and attacking an investigation as to whether or not he tries to stop people from investigating him. Thats part of the issue. He is confirming everything that theyre trying to find out about him. I will say this very quickly about don mcgovernments exhibit ahn. He has a long exextensive history. This guy knows how to stay out of trouble. And so hes definitely going to reveal whatever it is he needs to reveal to mueller because he has a career he wants to extend beyond what this presidency may be able to handle. The most important phrase that i have read in all of this reporting about the mcgahn interviews is the New York Times describing that don mcgahn has given them the president s mindset, the mindset on the firing of james comey. Yeah. And so that can change what Rudy Giuliani and the president are trying to set up as a he said he said conflict, meaning james comey says the president said something to him about flynn and the president denies he ever said that about flynn. Well, what if, what if there is someone else in the white house who can actually confirm that the president did Say Something like what jim comey says the president said . Yeah, lawrence. Youre absolutely right. This is a key thing. The hardest part of proving the
case is proving what the president did was with an intent to obstruct justice, to impede the investigation. And don mcgahn had a Ring Side Seat for that intent and was involved in these various acts that trump did firing comey, demanding that mueller be fired and actions taken against rosenstein. If you take a step back, you have got a white House Counsel now talking to prosecutors. You have got someone running around that taped the west wing. You have a president with an enemys list. We are a few away from a remake of the 1970s. This looks like the Nixon White House all over again. I want to go to something the president said in an interview with routers today. And the president arranged this interview. I think it is fair for us to consider that it might have been arranged in direct response to the New York Times reporting
this weekend about don mcgahns cooperation. The president is echoing something that Rudy Giuliani keeps saying relentlessly. This is about what they call the possible perjury trap. He says so if i Say Something that he, comey, and he, comey, says something and it is my word against his and hes best friends with mueller, so mueller might say, well, i believe comey. And even if im telling the truth, that makes me a liar, thats no good. Now, ken, The Don Mcgahn reporting, as i say, interests me most when it comes to the possibility that don mcgahn might be able to change the comey versus trump story from comeys word versus trumps word to trumps word versus comeys word plus possibly something from don mcgahn. 100 . But first a word about that tweet. It is inconsistent with the facts and inconsistent with american values. Thats not a partisan statement. Robert mueller volunteered for vietnam, was wounded in combat, led the fbi after 9 11. There are Prosecutor Ons that team with sterling records. Got so far into their skin they threatened to kill him. He had 24 7 security for a year. These are Public Servants who have given over their careers to serving the American Public and bringing people to justice. Donald trump may not like what they are doing, but he is sounding like every politician i have ever reported on who has been under criminal investigation by the fbi. You are absolutely right. Don mcgahn can be a crucial witness. And this story in the Washington Post where sources are suggesting he Didnt Incriminate the president , i read that as this is the Giuliani Philosophy that the president cant obstruct justice because he can fire whoever he wants for any reason. I dont think that Robert Mueller believes that or legal
experts believe that. If he fired comey for corrupt reasons, if he asked Comey To Go Easy On Flynn For Corrupt Seasons and if mcgahn can help mueller establish that, thats obstruction of justice. You cant charge a sitting president , but i think we are moving towards a comprehensive report that will go to congress that may be more damning that we can imagine sitting here right now. Im glad to you went back to the president s tweet. Which is just the most disgraceful thing that this president could possibly say about bob mueller as a person. If he wants to criticize his prosecutorial work, that is one thing. But im so glad you went back to that. Also, ken, this point that the president is the white house is putting out tonight, clearly coming from the white house to the Washington Post that don mcgahns lawyer told us he did not incriminate the president , that could mean anything. That could mean don mcgahn did not say i saw the president commit a crime. I saw the president commit obstruction of justice. But don mcgahn could have told them exactly what he saw the president do and the prosecutors could decide what they just heard is a crime. Yeah, absolutely. The New York Times seems to have a pipeline into don mcgahn and his version of e pents already reported on these episodes, that trump insisted mcgahn help him fire mueller. That trump was pressuring people around him to get rid of Jeff Sessions or was moving forward with a plan to fire Jeff Sessions. All of that i i have is deeply relevant. The bizarre thing about this, lawrence, is, you know, the white house could have asserted executive privilege, and they could have at least tried to prevent some of this interview. They may have lost, but they
could have strung it out. They didnt do that. And that went to the earlier legal strategy of Donald Trumps former lawyers to fully cooperate with the Mueller Investigation and and also according to the new york sometimes mcgahn deciding he felt that trump was setting him up to take the fall. He was going to go in there with his lawyer and tell mueller everything. And do 30 hours of interviews. We heard Steve Schmidt today who said i know don mcgahn very well. I have an office next to him. He is not going to go to jail and be disbarred for donald trump. That seems to be the consensus from people that know don mcgahn. When we come back, Michael Cohen is reportedly being investigated for bank fraud, 20 million of bank fraud. So does that make Michael Cohen 20 million more eager to cooperate with federal prosecutors and tell them everything he knows about donald trump . Later in the hour, the woman married to the biggest cyber bully in the world, david little speaks today about Cyber Bullying prevention while her husband was cyber bullied. I dont want to ruin the suspension by telling you who those two people are, so you are just going to have to stick around to find out. [upbeat music]
Michael Cohen woke up today to a front page story in his hometown newspaper, the New York Times outlining the charges federal prosecutors are considering in their investigation of Michael Cohen. The New York Times reports that Michael Cohen could face charges of bank fraud and obtaining 20 million in loans from two new york banks that most new yorkers have never heard of. The bank loan is under scrutiny, the total of which has not been reporting came from two Financial Institutions that catered to the taxi industry, Sterling National bank and melrose credit union. People of knowledge with the matter, including a banker, who reviewed the transactions include that mr. Cohen used 32 Taxi Medallions as collateral. They were valued at 1 million each and generated 1 million a year in income. Michael cohens partner in the Taxi Business is already cooperating with federal
prosecutors and an accountant who worked for both has testified before the grand jury in the cohen case. The New York Times reports if Michael Cohen becomes a cop wop rating witness, it would likely include a provision that mr. Cohen also provide information to the special counsel, robert s. Mueller, iii. Joining us now Michael Daley and ron is back with us. The Taxi Business has been a Cash Business for a very long time. The one thing that can be much dirtier than commercial real estate in new york, the Taxi Business. So its starting to feel like Michael Cohen has a 20 million more reasons now to cooperate with Special Prosecutors. I thought it was good news for him. They talked about many crimes. I mean, this narrows it down to a few multimillion dollar crimes. If you start looking at the taxi, the first guy who he is Business Partners with, he had a problem because he was charging fake late fees. The only winner in the Whole Trump Russian Saga so far is freidman. It looks like he was going to go to state prison. All of a sudden, hey, i can give up Michael Cohen. Luckily for him there is something more interesting because of the trump investigation. Ron, the president of the United States could be in very big trouble because of the Taxi Business in new york and his buddy Michael Cohen drowning in legal problems because of it. Yeah. I mean, Michael Cohen turns out to be a crook. Who could have seen that coming, huh . I think it is true, lawrence, that he could be in trouble. But i think even truer is he may already be in a lot of trouble. We are focussed on whether or not Michael Cohen will offer additional evidence to special counsel. We need to remember that the most important evidence Michael Cohen probably has is those millions of pages of records that bob mueller already has. And a Special Master looked at and set a few aside as being looked at by attorneyclient privilege. Theyre not going to have all the different ways it could be impeached. So i do think it is an interesting issue how much farther Michael Cohen does go, does he flip . But mueller may already have in his pocket most of what he wants from him. More of those guys cracked than you can remember. Joe macina, toughest guy that ever lived, never be a rat. Him, him, him, him. Here is donald trump today tweeting about who is going to be a rat in his world. The thing thats interesting, the president of the United States is supposed to stand for justice. And, you know, rats are people that are leading you towards justice. Hes calling you a rat. But how can a guy be a rat if hes not giving up something . You can stop someone in the street and say, are you going to flip on trump . There is nothing to give. But all of a sudden, there is this kind of implicit thing that there is something to give up. Yeah. And, ron, what about that . It is not youre saying it is not clear to you that Michael Cohen has enough of value for Robert Mueller. As i said, i think the files are the big thing. I think the records are the big thing. Theyre reliable. Theyre provable. He may well have for. We talked about his role in the payoffs to women who like Stormy Daniels who allegedly had a relationship with donald trump and there is a lot of things there. Were there federal Campaign Finance violations involved in that and the way that helped the Trump Campaign . What i think you see is we have the white House Counsel offering evidence against trump. You have now his personal lawyer offering evidence against trump. And these people, they wouldnt have anything to say if there werent criminal activity. If there wasnt something they were trying to protect themselves from because of what went wrong and what was wrongly done here. And i think thats the big picture. People coming to testify against trump, they only have something to testify if trump did something wrong. Thank you both for joining us tonight. Really appreciate it. When we come back, President Trump actually thinks he can replace Robert Mueller with himself. I wish you werent so worried about moving. Im hoping these Nature Sounds will help me relax a bit. At least we dont have to worry about Homeowners Insurance. Just call geico. Geico helps with Homeowners Insurance . Good to know. Feeling better . I love you, pookie bear. [parrot 1] i love you, pookie bear. [parrot 2] i love you, pookie bear [parrots] i love you, pookie bear get to know geico and see how easy homeowners and renters insurance can be. Publically urged to quit and privately attempted to fire. In one tweet, the president referred to Jeff SessionsJustice Department with the word justice in quotes. In his interiew today, the president did not rule out tripping Robert Mueller of his Security Clearance. The president said, i havent given it a lot of thought when asked about muellers Security Clearance. Today more than 175 former Government Officials signed a statement in support of former cia director john brennan after the president stripped his Security Clearance last week. Yesterday john brennan repeated what he told Rachel Maddow friday night. Well, i have been contacted by a number of lawyers, and they have already given me their thoughts about the basis for a complaint, an injunction, to try to prevent him from doing this in the future. If my clearances and my reputation as i am being pulled through the mud now, if that is the price we are going to pay to
prevent donald trump from doing this against other people, to me it is a small price to pay. I will do whatever i can to try to prevent these abuses in the future. If it means going to court, i will do that. And in a footnote to Meet The Press yesterday, just when you thought Rudy Giuliani was beyond parody, he found a way to parody himself. Look, im not going to be rushed into having him testify so that he gets trapped into perjury. When you tell me that, you know, he should testify because hes going to tell the truth, that he shouldnt worry, thats so silly because its somebodys version of the truth, not the truth. He didnt have a conversation truth is truth. I dont mean to go it isnt truth. Truth isnt truth. Joining our discussion, a conservative Opinion Writer at the Washington Post and an msnbc contributor and host of deep state radio. And jennifer, we could have a
new Special Prosecutor of donald trump. That would be donald trump when he takes over the investigation of himself. By the way, my favorite part of that Meet The Press interview was chuck todd putting his head in his hands as if i couldnt have written this. My god, what are you saying then . This is trumps craziness. On one hand we can laugh at it because it is so absurd and so contrary to the way our government operates. In another way it is very telling. We keep looking for the obvious. It is hiding in plain sight. Trump thinks he can use the Justice Department as his personal lawyers to protect him. It comes out in these tweets. It comes out in the way he talks about mueller and the way he talks about Jeff Sessions. So, yes, it is very amusing because it is so crack pottish and so evidently trump, but there is a serious side to it, i think. And david, the president can fire the attorney general. He can fire the Deputy Attorney general. He can pretty much rip that investigation apart. Yeah, sure. He can do that and of course thats whats troubling about having a president who is as cray as trump is. Abnormal has become the new normal. Every day we have not one, not two, but half a dozen things. You didnt list the fact he said he kind of likes kim jongun and hed like to meet with kim jongun. We didnt talk about the fact he thought manafort was a good guy and that was a horrible thing that was being done to him. Every single day he violates norms. But i think the thing that we need to keep in mind as we look forward on this thing is that some day were going to be looking back at all this and saying these were the good old days. These were the days when the pressure wasnt high. There wasnt a Democratic Congress that was running 11
investigations and looking at his books. His son wasnt in the dock. His daughter wasnt in the dock. His soninlaw doesnt in the dock. When that pressure builds up on him and god fordid we have some kind of international crisis, which we havent had, this kind of level of craziness is going to look good by comparison because the guy is clearly losing his grip. And jennifer, we saw the tweets get more hysterical as the pressure builds. Hes just like a machine that way almost. When the New York Times comes out and reports that the white House Counsel is cooperating, we see the president going into hysteria. He cannot help himself. There is no Grand Strategy here, folks. The notion hes playing Three Dimensional Chess or five dimensional chess is ridiculous. This is his crazed, confused thinking. This is his anger. This is more helpful probably than anything other than putting him under oath because it is the real trump. David, john brennan publicly allowing for the possibly that hes considering what to do legally in terms of suing about the loss of his Security Clearance. Not for himself as he puts it, but possibly to establish a precedent about this. Rudy giuliani out there tonight saying please sue. The president taunting today saying we want him to sue so that we can go into discovery against him. It would be a complicated issue for john brennan to decide to do this. Well, i think it might be a complicated issue. But of course there are traditional processes filed for removing Peoples Security clearances both within agencies and from beyond agagencies. They involve due process and
moving there is some kind of National Security issue thats come at stake as a result of it. I think the burden of proof on the president and the accusers of brennan would be more difficult than it would be more brennan, who is one of the most distinguished Public Servants we have had, one of the really outstanding leaders the Intelligence Community has produced and is absolutely a political actor. This is a guy who simply has devoted himself to u. S. Public service for the past 25 years. And, so, you know, i think Rudy Giuliani again, that was another unhinged tweet thats a parody of a parody. I dont think Rudy Giuliani wants to get into that fight because it wont just be brennan. It will be the entire Intelligence Community thats going to line up behind him because they see this as a threat to the independence of the Intelligence Community, which is a threat to u. S. National security. And john brennan probably served three republican president s, three democratic president s. He has in his professional life no partisan history whatsoever. You have a long list of people who are everything from congressional medal of not medal of honor, but president ial med doll of honor recipients, president ial Medal Of Freedom recipients, people that have been honored by west point. He wants to take away all of their Security Clearances. But i think this is important for another reason. And this is because it is the practice for when he decides to do this to mueller. It is important the Intelligence Community speak as one voice. That congress, if they could ever get their act together, if republicans ever decide to show any spine whatsoever, not likely for but democrats to get their act together. If he goes down that route, then we really are at a constitutional crisis point. It is important to speak up now. It is important for the Intelligence Community to really not tolerate this whatsoever. And you do see just these people moving forward. So they are certainly showing
their patriotic stripes by not responding to an attack on an individual or from an individual but standing up for american principles, for democratic norms. What a concept. Thank you for joining us tonight. And when we come back, Melania Trump actually said this today. We share one goal, to pave a smooth way forward for our children. But she certainly did not mean the 565 children who still remain separated from their parents because her husband ordered them to be separated from their parents. Use every possible resource. To fight cancer. And never lose sight of the patients were fighting for. Our Cancer Treatment specialists share the same vision. Experts from all over the world, working closely together to deliver truly personalized cancer care. Specialists focused on treating cancer. Using advanced technologies. And more precise treatments than before. Working as hard as we can doing all that we can for everyone who walks through our doors. This is Cancer Treatment centers of america. And these are the specialists were proud to call our own. Treating cancer isnt one thing we do. Its the only thing we do. Expert medicine works here. Learn more at cancercenter. Com Cancer Treatment centers of america. Appointments available now. Transitions™ presents four new colors style colors by transitions™ here is a promise that then candidate donald trump Made In August of 2016 oh, and by the way, they said my wife melania might have come in illegally. Can you believe that one . No, no, no. They said headlines, maybe she came in illegally. Maybe. Let me tell you one thing. She has got it so documented so shes going to have a little News Conference over the next couple of weeks. I love it. I love it. They said, Melania Trump may have come into our country illegally and how would that be
for donald trump . Shes going to have a little News Conference over the next couple of weeks. That was two years and 11 days ago. Donald trump knew that his Campaign Supporters harbored many hatreds. But the one hatred that all supports seem to share enthusiastically was hatred of illegal immigration, hatred of the people that donald trump said came into our country illegally. So when reports came of Melania Trump coming in illegally, he said shes got it so documented. And then Melania Trump remained absolutely silent about her immigration history and her
immigration documents. The next couple of weeks passed, and she didnt say a word about her immigration history. But finally today, two years and 11 days after donald trump made that promise, Melania Trump finally stepped up to a microphone and said this good morning. It is great to be here with all of you today. Im honored to open this important summit on Cyber Bullying prevention. And want to start by thanking each of you for your commitment to the topic. And so once again the only first lady in history who, in Donald Trumps words as he put it two years ago, quote, may have come into our country illegally still has not had that little News Conference that donald trump promised where she would reveal all the details of her immigration history and put out her immigration documents, showing to us she didnt come
here illegally or work here illegally ever. Today she spoke for four whole minutes of Cyber Bullying prevention. She read words that were written for her by her staff. So she never mentioned the biggest cyber bully in the world. She never offered her perspective on how you bring up a 12yearold boy in an American Household with a 72yearold father who is not just a cyber bully but is the biggest cyber bully in history. No president in our lifetime has been better at publically ignoring the first lady than donald trump. He won that title on the first day of his presidency by forgetting about his wife as soon as he arrived at the white house. And he did it again today by not just completely ignoring that
his wife held a public event today, something she almost never does, but then by publically violating the principals that his wife was talking about today, by spending so much of his day after her speech trying to cyber bully everyone from a former cia director to the Current Special prosecutor to thousands of people working in the Justice Department. So today the first lady read a very short statement about Cyber Bullying and the president spent his day Cyber Bullying. And neither one of them did a thing for the 565 children still in President Trumps custody after being ripped out of their parents arms at the southern border. Neither one of them have done a thing for those children, not one thing. They havent helped reunite a single child with a single parent. We share one goal, to pave a
small way forward for our children. How can she say that . How can she say those words, a smooth way forward for our children . She supported the president ial campaign of the man who was already the worlds biggest cyber bully. She supports the presidency that has ripped thousands of children from their parents arms at the southern border, thousands. She supports the president who ripped those families apart because he said they came here illegally. And she has never proven beyond a reasonable doubt that she first came to this country legally and worked in this country legally when she began working here. She has never proved that. There wont be a smooth way forward for the 565 children still in trump custody because Melania Trumps husband has deported 366 parents of those
children. Melania trumps husband has completely lost track of 26 of those parents and has no idea how to reunite those parents. Melania trumps husband forced 154 parents to sign away their rights to be reunited with their children when those parents did not know what they were signing. We share one goal to pave a smooth way forward for our children. Melania trump has done nothing for our children. Nothing. And donald trump has done far too much to our children. So you have, your headphones, chair, new laptop, 24 7 tech support. Yep, thanks guys. I think he might need some support. Yes. Start them off right, with the School Supplies they need at low prices all summer long. Like these for only 2 or less
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she went to the southern border. She seems to have proven that since her return. Here she is worried about Cyber Bullying and not expressing one word of concern about the children who are in trump custody. Correct. And of course, as you said earlier, not paying one whit of attention to the worst Cyber Bullying of all who sets an appalling example for all of us. Maybe she should talk to twitter and ask them to take bullies off their platform. That would be helpful. I think the problem i have with Melania Trump is being helpful for others and she has done nothing. This platform, this was one little white house event in the rose garden and she comes and gives this ridiculous fourminute speech. Shes not doing anything for america. You look at all the first ladies
that preceded her. Barbara bush, where it was laura bush, on literacy, the obamas and specifically their work with veterans and their families. Every first lady has championed causes. Every first lady has done good. What has she done . Virtually nothing. And they say, she is a private person. You know what . She now has an obligation to do good. When you get to that position, i dont think you have a right to stay home and have silly little Press Conferences like. This i think it is time for her to get active and for her to show some public mindedness. I will say that she did decide to take her first public trip and maybe this is a little bit of trolling. She decided to go to africa. Which her husband once described as a bunch of sblank, blank, blank countries. So perhaps thats a Little Kneedling on her part. If she comes one something remotely in the realm of what for example president bush did
with respect to aids, i would be stunned. These people are about empty gestures, themselves, and theyre fundamentally selfish people. The announcement of the trip, it was an announcement of a trip to a continent. Im not sure the first ladys office knows that africa is not a country. When these trims are announced by previous white houses, they announce countries. They dont say a trip to europe. They dont say a trip to asia or south america. They announce specific countries. Im not sure this first ladys office knows any countries that they could name in africa. Thank you very much for joining us. Tonights last word is next. If you have moderate to Severe Plaque Psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis, Little Things can be a big deal. Thats why theres otezla. Otezla is not an injection or a cream. Its a pill that treats differently. For psoriasis, 75 clearer skin is achievable, with reduced redness, thickness, and scaliness of plaques. And for psoriatic arthritis, otezla is proven to reduce joint swelling, tenderness, and pain. And the otezla Prescribing Information has no requirement for routine lab monitoring. Dont use if youre allergic to otezla. Otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. Tell your doctor if these occur. Otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. Tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts, or if these feelings develop. Some people taking otezla reported weight loss. Your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. Other side effects include Upper Respiratory Tract Infection and headache. Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take and if youre pregnant or planning to be. Otezla. Show more of you. Upbeat Dance MusicUpbeat Dance Music bell ringing
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