More fire power into that investigation. Thereafter the wall street journal reported james comey accelerated his own personal pace of work on the investigation. He previously been briefed weekly on the progress of the trump russia investigations in the couple weeks before he was fired though, according to the wall street journal, james comey started taking daily briefings on that investigation. But then he was fired. With the president now admitting what he was thinking about when he fired james comey was that darn russia investigation, that fake russia investigation and how much he wants it to go away. Now that the fbi director has been fired, now that we have crossed this rube con as country where the president is under active fbi investigation on incredibly serious counterintelligence charges, and he has fired the head of the fbi in the middle of that fbi investigation, specifically because he said he was unhappy with that investigation, now that we have crossed that previously unthinkable rube con as a country, you know the world didnt end. We still got to do stuff. We still have to figure out how to make the most of what weve got in terms of our democracy and the rule of law. So now in the wake of the fbi directors firing, we dont know, but theres obviously Widespread National concern about whats going to happen to those fbi vesksz. Locktime observers of the fbi, former fbi agents f new act director. Fbi who was the former deputy to james comey, they all say that the trump russia investigations at the fbi will continue. They cant be stopped, nothing can stop or slow down those investigators, nothing can intimate them out of doing their work. And that sounds awesome as a pep talk because, of course, we dont know that for sure. Weve never been in this position before. We dont know whats going to happen to those investigations. Late tonight, the news crossed that there are four candidates the administration is now considering to be the new director of the fbi replacing james comey. One of them is the andrew mccabe, one is alice fisher. Shes very accomplished lawyer, there is some controversy from her time in the George Bush Administration from her connections to the prison at guantanamo and interallegations at guantanamo. Another candidate is judge michael garcia. Hes an appeals judge in new york state and a former federal prosecutors and ins commissioner from the george w. Bush era. Thats three. And then the fourth candidate who was reportedly being considered to run the fbi is senator john corneyn of texas. I say its hilarious because the white house now admits and the president now admits that the president fired james comey because of the russia investigation. This so far has been john correspond anyones public stance on why he believes james comey was fired by the president. Quote, ive heard what i think is a phony narrative that he did this somehow to squelch the investigation into russia, which i dont believe theres any evidence of. It would be funny. It would be a laugh out loud moment if they tried to install sn him. He made a recommendation, but regardless of recommendation, i was going to fire comey, knowing there was no good time to do it. In fact when i decided to just do it, i said to myself, i said, you know, this russia thing with trump and russia is a madeup story. What did he say about that . I dont believe theres any evidence of that other than the president saying thats why he did it. So we will see who the white house puts forward to be the new director of the fbi. Reportedly those interviews for the position will start on saturday. Those candidates will be interviewing with attorney general Jeff Sessions and with Rod Rosenstein who is Jeff Sessions deputy at the department of justice. Those were the two people who provided the prearchitectual explanation for why james comey had to be fired, an explanation concerning Hillary Clintons maelgz that later was essentially completely undermined, trashed, and denied by the president who insists it was his decision to fire james comey because he was thinking about that fake trump russia investigation. A pressing question here now that director comey has been fired is what is going to happen to the active trump russia investigations at the fbi in the wake of that firing, right . Those questions are made all the more pressing by the revelations over the course of this week that the investigations into the scandal were expanding and accelerating at the time james comey was fired. Well, now because its friday night, now theres new news tonight out of washington about the expansion and acceleration of another part of the investigation, not the part happening in the fbi, which we already know was expanding and accelerating, the news we have tonight is the part of the the investigation thats happening in the United States senate. One of the other things we learned about the investigation is that it appears to be focusing more and more on following the money including the president s own finances and own business history. On monday, former director of National Security, director clapper responded he couldnt answer that question in an open session because it touched on ongoing investigations. On tuesday we learned that grand jury subpoenas were sent by u. S. Attorneyss office in virginia to Business Associates to people financially tied to former National Security are adviser mike flynn. In that same wall street journal report this week that included the revelation that director comey was getting briefed daily on the investigation instead of weekly leading up to the day he was fired, the journal also noted in that article that investigators were getting increasingly focused on trumps business dealings. Investigators are interested in competencies that have done business with mr. Trump or have connections with him. That could include businesses associated with members of mr. Trumps family. So we knew that heading into tonight there was this increasing turn towards business interests and following the money. But now tonight, a new scoop, again, out of the wall street journal, reporters shane skmars carol lee, and it is about the financial crimes enforcement network, part of the u. S. Department of the treasury. This unit was created in 1990 basically as an antiMoney LaunderingLaw Enforcement agency. After 9 11 i say power was boosted in part by the patriot act. This was the unit of the treasury that went hard and fast after the financing of al qaeda. They tracked and disrupted formal and unformal funding streams funding al qaeda not only in afghanistan and pakistan, but everywhere al qaeda was operating. This is a investigatory agency that tracks money. They have a pretty fearsome reputation. And the story that just broke in the wall street journal tonight is that this unit at the treasury, these Money Laundering cops basically have decided to hand over what they know to the trump russia investigation. Quote, a Treasury Department unit that specializes the combatting Money Laundering will share financial records with an expanding senate probe into possible ties between russia and President Donald Trump and his associates. Wall street journal tonight citing people familiar with the matter as their sources. These people familiar with the matter did not tell the wall street journal specifically the nature of these records that treasurys going to hand over to the Senate Intelligence committee. But heres the quote from this article that jumps out of the page and starts pointing at itself. This is written very carefully. I dont know exactly what this means, but this is thousand wall street journal is characterizing whats happening from the Money Laundering cops to the Senate Intelligence investigation of trump russia. Quote, one person said that without these records the committee would not be able the reach a conclusion on whether there was collusion between trump skpoeshts russia during last years campaign. Without these records, you cant reach a conclusion on whether there was collusion . What does that mean . That sounds like a big deal. I dont know what that means. So when the fbi director got fired, we now know the fbi investigation was getting faster and getting bigger. We do not know what happens to the fbi investigations now that theyve fired that director, weve never had that happen before as a country. Well see. But its not the only investigations. Its not just the fbi. The Senate Intelligence investigation also appears to be expanding as well. If tonights wall street journal reporting is correct, the Senate IntelligenceCommittee Investigation are about to get their hands on whatever records may have been obtainedty obtained by the Treasury Department. Whats the quote again without them the committee wouldnt able to reach a conclusion on whether there was collusion between trump and russia. Wall street journal tonight gives us two more pieces that sort of help us to understand where this thing is at overall and what this information could mean. Quote, Senate Intelligence panels requests for these records was made because investigators reviewing u. S. Intelligence reports about russian interference in the election came across information that led them to inquire about mr. Trumps business ties. Oh, really . Quote, the former u. S. Senior official indicated investigators are examining whether russian sflefrmts any of mr. Trumps properties or business vicenza could be traced back to government sources including russian officials who might own banks that were lending noun mr. Trump. So this is new. And this finally starts to explain, puts a little meat on the bones in terms of what we have been hearing over the last few days. Two things have happened, one absolute melt down in washington including firing the fbi director with no reasonable explanation for why they did it. So freak out in the white house. Thats happened in the last few days. And simultaneously we have been hearing more and more increasingly clear indications that theyre following the money. That theyre specifically following trumps money. The wall street journal notes tonight in this scoop, quote, this marks an escalation from its original focus from intelligence reports that were used to conclude russia memgdsed in the elections. Doing reporting on this and trying to pull together pieces of the story for the last couple days and weeks and months, we have heard this repeatedly from people who have knowledge of the Senate Intelligence committees investigation. Basically the big knock on that investigation is that its not adequately staffed, it might be impeded for partisan reasons because richard burr was part of the Trump Campaign and maybe the republicans dont really want to get to the bottom of this thing. The main technically concern weve heard especially from people who know whats happening is that theyve basically been focusing on reviewing what led to that intelligence assessment back in january that they released publicly which said russia had in fact attacked our elections. That had been the real beef for people who had been watching that investigation closely that there were only just reviewing the documents that led to that assessment. While thats neat, it doesnt exactly inspire confidence about how hard they were looking into the next question, the question of whether or not the russians had help, american con fed rats who knew about this or were working with them on that attack. That has been the worry about the Senate Intelligence kmeechlt now it seems like theyre working on that second question, and theyve got these Money Laundering cops at the Treasury Department helping them with their efforts. So thats a big advance. If there are obstruction of justice worries about this administration in the wake of these deep and series concerns that the president appears to have plainly fired the fbi director as a way to effect or shut down the fbi investigation into these matters, as we do to start thinking about whether the other agencies, the other Law Enforcement personnel, the other investigators involved in trying to get to the bottom of this, we have to start thinking about whether theyre protected or could they get fired like jim comey did too. Were now going to be seeking real information and real assurances of the integrity of that part of the Treasury Department. How independent are they . How independent are they able to operate from, say, the president s handpicked treasury secretary, mnuchin . Could they be affected by a strategic firing . Who knew we would ever need to do this, but if theres going to be a patriotic civic effort to protect against the investigations in various corners of american Law Enforcement, that means obviously eyes on what happens next at the fbi because the fbi director just got fired apparently because of the russia investigation. It also means new concerns and new focus on these crucial Law Enforcement offices inside the department of the treasury that have been looking at Money Laundering. It also means looking at the u. S. Attorneys. Vanity fair today had a report titled inside trumps coming war with the fbi. Its mostly about the fbis reaction, the reaction within the fbi to the firing of their director, james comey. But the piece ends with this note before it a, quote, fbi insider. Chris smith rise according to this insider, quote, there are actually multiple inquiries in progress. He says, quote, theres the business side, was there Money Laundering going on . Money from these russian pollutecrats thats been washed through the businesses. Thats gotten overlooked but Preet Bharara in the Southern District of new york were supposedly looking into that. Preet bharara was one of 46 u. S. Attorneys fired by the president in march. What was notable about him getting fired in particular was his jurisdiction in the Southern District of new york not only includes the headquarters of the trump organization, its also the defac to prosecuting attorney for international Money Laundering cases because so many banks with global reach are head quartered in manhattan. Donald trump had personally aassured Preet Bharara after the election that hed be allowed to keep his job and there has yet been no explanation from the white house as to why he changed his mind and fired him without notice. Vanity fair reporting at the time he was fired he may have been looking for money from these russian pollutecrats thats been washed through trumps real estate and businesses. Theres investigations being carried out in congress, fbi investigations, theres the Money Laundering investigations happening at the treasury. There also may have been happening in federal prosecutorss offices. Were looking around at the ongoing investigations wondering how they can be protected, whether they are susceptible to pressure or firings a la james comey and Preet Bharara. Other means the mexico might try to undermine them because they cant imagine. Ill tell you and this is my last point, there is one other place we need to look at if were trying to protect the investigations. People who know this stuff are starting to focus on this in particular in terms of how these parts of the investigation can be protected. And thats two specific Inspector Generals offices. Last night on this particular show we reported exclusively that the Justice Department is refusing to say whether Jeff Sessions has recused himself from any department of justice investigations that knight might include paul manafort. We dont know if Jeff Sessions is recused from matters involving manafort because the Justice Department will not say, which is weird. The Justice Department has said that Jeff Sessions is recused from matters involving former National Security adviser mike flynn. Wont say it about manafort but he did say it about flynn. It was announced that the Inspector General at the Defense Department was investigating flynn over him being paid by Foreign Governments. There are Inspector General offices in all the agencies and they are all independent and they are real investigative skpofsz usually staffed by very serious people. And these offices are not always perfect and there are good ones and bad ones. In in general, the Inspector General offices in the agencies they have a tough record of figuring stuff out, being blunt about what theyve figured out and it may just have been a coincidence. Thats when Jeff Sessions took himself out of having anything to do with flynn. There is also another Inspector General looking at an aspect of the investigation and thats someone in his own department. Theres one at the Justice Department already looking into the handling of the clinton email matter during the president ial campaign. Chaffetz asked that zwroen expand that inquiry to also look at james comey being fired as fbi director now four Democratic Senators asked that same Inspector General to look not just at the firing of comey but whether or not Jeff Sessions is actually recused from matters involving the Trump Campaign. Which he said he was. They also ask him to look into whether the fbi investigation into trump russia is adequately resourced. That has all been asked of the Inspector Generals office at the department of justice. These offices are notoriously tightlipped. We dont know exactly how pointed these investigations are that are underway, but we know they are underway. From the point of view of President Donald Trump, independent investigations . Really . If he doesnt like that idea, these investigations happening in the inspector journeys office at defense and justice, he has to know or hes learning quickly its actually within his power as for the fire those inspectors general. He could just fire them. If he does so, of course that would be more bombshells. Of course at this point were shell shocked, but if President Trump zoiz kibosh these independent Inspector General investigations, block those investigations by firing those inspectors general, this is fascinating. That gives each of those inspectors general to make a sprint so make their findings known. Hes already fired the fbi drenkt hes already fired Preet Bharara and other u. S. Attorneys. He fired the Deputy Attorney general. Who do you think hes going to fire next . Whats the best way to get two servings of veggies . V8 or a powdered drink . Ready, go. Ahhhhhhhh shake shake shake shake shake done you gotta shake it i shake it glad i had a v8. The original way to fuel your day. With all the things youll never learn from a book. Expedia. Everything in one place, so you can travel the world better. But with my back pain i couldnt sleep or get up in time. Then i found aleve pm. The only one to combine a sleep aid plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. And now. Im back aleve pm for a better am. Are made with smarttrack®igners material to precisely move your teeth to your best smile. See how invisalign® treatment can shape your smile up to 50 faster today at invisalign. Com you totanobodys hurt, new car. But there will still be pain. It comes when your Insurance Company says theyll only pay threequarters of what it takes to replace it. What are you supposed to do . Drive threequarters of a car . Now if you had Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, youd get your whole car back. I guess they dont want you driving around on three wheels. Smart. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement™, well replace the full value of your car. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Did you know slow internet can actually hold your business back . Say goodbye to slow downloads, slow backups, slow everything. Comcast business offers blazing fast and reliable internet thats over 6 times faster than slow internet from the phone company. Say hello to internet speeds up to 250 mbps. And add phone and tv for only 34. 90 more a month. Call today. Comcast business. Built for business. Joo j. Edgar hoover served added fbi director from 1924 until 1972. He never actually retired, never stepped down. He served up until the day he died, may, 1972. After his death, president next to named l. Patrick gray to be the new acting fbi director, the first new person to head that agency as i mentioned it was fwointd hoover 48 years earlier. He worked on nixons staff when he was vice president. He later works at the Civil Division at the department of justice. He had a ton of Nixon Administration jobs but he was a close personal friend of president nixon. He was the protoe typical nixon loyalist. Make him fbi director . Its no wonder democrats at the time were a little uneasy about his appointment as acting fbi director, may 1972 since the president made the announcement he didnt need to be confirmed. Quote, mr. Gray will serve until after november 7th according to the white house because the president doesnt want the appointment to become involved in partisan politics in an election year. Wouldnt want it to be at all political so were going to appoint my close personal friend to serve as fbi director indefinitely without kwishlgs for as long as is feasible. That was in may 1972. In june 1972, hey, look, its the watergate breakin. They were attempt to go wiretap phones and steal documents. What a time to have a friend as fbi director, nixon was reelected that november and just as the investigation were starting to ramp up, he nominated l. Patrick gray to stay on as his fulltime fullfledged fbi director. And democrats were having none of it. Hours of questioning, it came out mr. Gray had been passing on confidential fbi files on the investigation, the watergate investigation to nixons White House Council, to john dean. There was no way he was getting confirmed. And democrats at the time were very blunt about that. A lot of people in the senate were saying today its all over for l. Patrick gray that the Senate Judiciary committee will not recommend that he be confirmed as permanent head of the fbi. Its being said that the white house knows this and is looking for a grateful way for mr. Gray to withdraw. Paul duke has learned more of the details. There are not enough votes to confirm gray. In my opinion the snoimgs dead and its just a question of how gentle the execution is going to be. Just a question of how gentle the execution is going to be. Senate got up on its hind legs and said no to president s nixons fbi director in the middle of the watergate investigation. Trump announced their four candidates to replace the fbi director after they just fired the one who was leading the trump russia investigation. Whats the senate going to do now . That storys next. Look closely. Hidden in every swing, every chip, and every putt, is data that can make the difference between winning and losing. 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P3 planters nuts, jerky and whaseeds. At . I like a variety in my protein. Totally, thats why i have this uh trail mix. Wow minty. P3 snacks. The more interesting way to get your protein. Ayou dont have to choose just one thing. Choose your trio with any 3 of 9 selections for 15. 99. Like new creamy lobster pasta toasted parmesan shrimp and southernstyle crab cakes. Come create your trio before it ends. Come close, come close. Fun in art class. I like that. [ music stops suddenly ] ah. When your pain reliever stops working, your whole day stops. Awww. Try this. For minor arthritis pain, only aleve can stop pain for up to 12 straight hours with just one pill. Thank you. Come on everybody. You cant quit, neither should your pain reliever. Stay all day strong with 12 hour aleve. Attorney general Jeff Sessions at least nominally recused himself from the trump russia investigation. That means at least nominally this is guy whos in charge at justice. That means definitely hes the man who has the power to appoint a special counsel to oversee this case. His name is ron rosenstein. They are leaning hard on him to appoint a special skpounl take it out of his own purview. Dick durbin released this statement. President trump admitted to firing the fbi director because of his investigation of the Trump Campaigns russia connections. Thats dangerously close to obstruction of justice. This morning the president tweeted a thinly veiled threat to mr. Comey which could be construed as threatening a witness in this investigation which is another violation of federal law. To preserve his reputation as a prosecutor, Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein moussaoui appoint a special independent prosecutor to pursue possible criminal charges or he must resign. Tonight we got this from senator dianne feinstein. She says, quote, i also support senator durbins call for Deputy Attorney general for rosenstein to resign. These investigations far too important risk disruption, delay, or sbeerns. When rosenstein was confirmed by the Senate Last Month for this attorney general job, it was an overwhelming job, 946. Then came his role in the firing of the fbi director in the middle of the fbi investigating the president s campaign. Now senator mark warren whos the top democrat on senate intel, now he told Lawrence Odonnell he wishes he could take back his yes vote on Rod Rosensteins kwirjs. Its, of course, too late to take back that vote, but rosenstein could still appoint a special counsel. No sign whatsoever that he will, but he could. Joining us is senator amy cloeb similar. Nice to see you. Thank you for being here. Thank you, rachel. I think it will never happen that the Trump Administration will allow a special prosecutor, counsel or independent congressional ton form to do this. It feels impossible to me. Do you disagree . I do because i think theres so much pressure. Youre starting to have some Republican House members at least call far special prosecute a handful of them. We are going to be meeting in a closed door meeting with Rod Rosenstein in the next few days, and a number of us are going to demand he appoint a special prosecute which is the same as a special counsel. The law allows him to do that if its in the public interest. If the attorney general has recused himself from this investigation, which he has, it falls in the hands of Rod Rosenstein. Like every single, that memo he wrote, it did not make legal amnestier to me. I dont keep i dont like how comey handled the hillary email investigation. I was his law School Classmate and he was quite respected in our class. Ive known him over the years, and i think he should have been fired over this, especially not smack dab in the middle of a Major Investigation. And so that is why given it has turned out that memo while maybe he believed what he put in that memo, he used old quotes from the campaign instead of a thorough legal memo. We know that the president made his decision based on his own views because of the russia investigation. All of this leads to the fact that rose rosenstein must appoint a special prosecute prosecutor. Youve been doing this on your show for months. Many of us in the senate have been pushing for an independent commission to get the facts out so that our democracy is not in peril because we simply cannot have a Foreign Government influencing our democracy. One more thing i would add as a former prosecute this is about upholding the law. And those people who work in the fbi go to work every day for our country. And they deserve to have someone in charge thats looking out for them. Many of them truly like james comey. And so when i heard the first part of your show, who else is the president going to fire next, there are a lot of people working on these investigations that cannot be fired that will not be fired, and that are going to get to the bottom of this. Senator, you were just describing the president s explanation for why he fired james comey. He is admitting it was his decision that the rosenstein memo was a pretext and he made it in part because of the russia investigation. Theres also these claims by the president that he had conversations with director comey which much the director assured him he was not the target of an investigation. This is contested information. Associates say theyre quite sure a conversation like this couldnt happen. The president has suggested there might be tapes of that kpfrgs that would somehow vindicate him on this matter. If obstruction of justice is a possibility here, either in terms of the firing or in terms of any prefiring conversations that the president initiated about this investigation, would the Senate Judiciary committee pursue that . Would you subpoena the tapes if the tapes exist . Would that be something the Judiciary Committee would try to nail down . Of course, we could do that. I think thats going to be something that can be looked at in the future. Right now the Intelligence Committee is looking at all of this. As you pointed out, those very Important Documents related to following the money, the Intelligence Committee and the u. S. Senate with senator burr who has made clear they are looking at the connections with senator warren and actually was issued a pretty strong statement after comey has been fired. This is burr saying that he was troubled, that this was bad timing and went into quite some detail. So i do think the Senate Intelligence committee is doing their job. When the act fbi director went before congress under oath in a public hearing said that one, james comey in fact did have the faith of the fbi agents in direct contradiction to what the president said, and that this is a Major Investigation and there are supervisors of that investigation, there are people that i dont think are going to stop doing their work simply because their boss was fired. If anything, i think its going to make them want to get to the bottom of this more. Senator of minnesota, thank you for being with us. Good to see you. Thank you. It was great to been, rachel, thanks. We have more this busy friday night including an important guest talking about that obstruction of justice claim i was just discussing with the senator. We have an important interview coming up. Stay with us. Hey, the future, whats her problem . Apparently, i kept her up all night. She said the future freaks her out. How come no one likes me, jim . Intel does just think of everything intels doing right now with artificial intelligence. And pretty soon ai is going to help executives like her see trends to stay ahead of her competition. No more sleepless nights. Were going to be friends im sorry about this. Dont be embarrassed of me, jim. Im getting excited about this we know the future. Were going to be friends because were building it. I use whats already inside me to reach my goals. So i liked when my doctor told me i may reach my blood sugar and a1c goals by activating whats within me with onceweekly trulicity. Trulicity is not insulin. It helps activate my body to do what its supposed to do release its own insulin. Trulicity responds when my blood sugar rises. I take it once a week, and it works 24 7. It comes in an easytouse pen and i may even lose a little weight. Trulicity is a onceweekly injectable prescription medicine to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes when used with diet and exercise. Trulicity is not insulin. It should not be the first medicine to treat diabetes or for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. Do not take trulicity if you or a Family Member has had medullary thyroid cancer, if youve had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if you are allergic to trulicity. Stop trulicity and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms such as itching, rash, or trouble breathing; a lump or swelling in your neck; or severe pain in your stomach area. Serious side effects may include pancreatitis, which can be fatal. Taking trulicity with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases your risk for low blood sugar. Common side effects include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite and indigestion. Some side effects can lead to dehydration, which may make existing kidney problems worse. With trulicity, i click to activate whats within me. If you want help improving your a1c and blood sugar numbers with a noninsulin option, click to activate your within. Ask your doctor about onceweekly trulicity. With a noninsulin option, click to activate your within. Its witnessed 2 diy duos,s 31 crashes, 4 food fights, and the flood of 09. Its your paradise perfected with behr premium plus paint. The best you can buy starting under 25. Only at the home depot. When president obama was elected in 2008, the eyes of the whole world were on this new president , such a huge change from george w. Bush. Americas first africanamerican president. Eyes all over the world on what barack obama would mean for the country, what he would do when he got the d. C. Eyes all over the world with the notable exception of the eyes of illinois governor rod ble goyvich. His eyes were on what the presidency would mean for him. Hes now serving time in federal prison on a 14year corruption sentence because he did have the power as gofrp to appoint replacement for Barack Obamas newly vacate senate seat and he decided to solicit bribes as sale price of that seat. Last month the govern tried to get his prison time reduced. Prosecutors opposed the request on the grounds that he still hasnt admitted the crimes he committed. And its true. To this day the governor and his lawyers insist he never did anything wrong of that they say what he did was political deal making that it wasnt a crime that any policing faced with the prospect of being able to fill a senate seat would naturally start looking around for political stuff to trade it for. Before he went on trial, that was not necessarily an unreasonable argument. You could disagree with it, but there was a serious argument to be made that the governor was seriously and soberly carrying out the normal uncraven, uncriminal duties of a serving governor when he was considering how to fill that senate seat. In theory, he had that case to make until umpyou heard the tap i told my nephew, i said its too bad youre not four years earlier because i could have given you a u. S. Senate seat for your birthday, you know what i mean . Yeah. Ive got this thing and its [ bleep ] golden. Right. And im just not giving it up for [ bleep ] nothing. Im not going to do it. I can always use it and [ bleep ]. Rod bleep blagojevich. He was caught on an fbi wiretap talking about how that seat was bleeping golden and hes not giving it up for bleeping nothing. When that recording was played in court, it quickly became clear he was going to go to jail ask hes in jail. That was 2008. Today early this morning the serving president said this on twitter. He said, quote, james comey better hope that there are no tapes of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press. The president said he had three different conversations with the director before he fired him, conversations from which the fbi director told him hes not under investigation by the fbi. People close to the fbi director say those conversations never happened. They say what happened at white house dinner between President Trump and fbi director james comey is that President Trump demanded a loyalty oath from the fbi director, which the fbi director declined to give. Now, the president this morning suggested via that tweet there might be a tape of that conversation implying comey better be careful. You know, the prospect that a tape exists of the president s dinner conversations with former fbi director james comey is interesting not because a president taping conversations is inheritly nefarious. President s havent done it since nixon, but lots did before nixon. The reason thats really interesting is because if there is a tape and the conversation went anything like the president says it did, where theyre talking about whether hes under investigation, that tape is fair game for being subpoenaed. It could be used as potential evidence and james comey could be called as a potential witness. There are already serious questions about whether the president may have obstructed justice specifically by firing the fbi director because he admits that he did that because of the russia investigation. The president has admitted hes openly claimed at a dinner at the white house he and james comey talked about whether james comey would get to stay on as fbi director, and at the same time at the same dinner he pressed james comey as to whether or not he was under investigation by the fbi. And that very much sounds like potential obstruction of justice. And if there is a tape of that that may open up a bunch of legal liabilities. Congress wrote letters to the counsel demanding to know if such a tape exists. They referred to the tweet. Quote, it is a crime to intimate or threaten any potential witness with the intent to influence, delay or prevent their official testimony. We are in new legal territory here, but we have just the person to help explain whats important about it. And thats next. Even a coupe soup. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, twothousandnine. Talk to farmers. We know a thing or two because weve seen a thing or two. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum whattwo servings of veggies . V8 or a powdered drink . Ready, go. Ahhhhhhhh shake shake shake shake shake done you gotta shake it i shake it glad i had a v8. The original way to fuel your day. How to win at business. Step one point decisively with the arm of your glasses. Abracadabra. The stage is yours. Step two choose la quinta. 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But i keep it growing by making every dollar count. Thats why i have the spark cash card from capital one. With it, i earn unlimited 2 cash back on all of my purchasing. And that unlimited 2 cash back from spark means thousands of dollars each year going back into my business. Which adds fuel to my bottom line. Whats in your wallet . But weve got the get tdigital tools to help. Now with xfinitys my account, you can figure things out easily, so you wont even have to call us. Change your wifi password to something you can actually remember, instantly. Add that premium channel, and watch the show everyones talking about, tonight. And the bill you need to pay . Do it in seconds. Because we should fit into your life, not the other way around. Go to xfinity. Com myaccount very pleased to say that joining us now is bob bauer. He is the former White House Council to president barack obama. Mr. Bauer, thank you very much for being with us on a friday night. Really appreciate your time tonight. Certainly. So President Trump on tuesday released a letter in which he fired the fbi director. He also claimed in that letter that the director had told him three times that he was not under fbi investigation. You said today that that letter and that claim in that letter raised red flags for you. Why is that . Well, its a norm, a well established norm that the president of the United States does not communicate with investigators responsible for an ongoing and active krg investigaticriminal investigation. Thats number one. Thats meant to be an area of activity, criminal enforcement and kept clear of any suggestion of political interference. So that conversation alone, just regardless of content is troubling. But then he goes further to say that he asked for reassurance that he personally was not at legal risk. And he did so apparently on three separate occasions. Once at a dinner and twice on a phone. Its really exceedingly unwise to have those conversations. It violates the norm. And in violating the norm, it raises the sort of legal questions that the president now unfortunately faces. In terms of those legal questions, this is a president who delights in violating norms. But doesnt have the option of delighting and violating law, provided that theyre investigated and prosecuted if those criminal investigations happen. If this were investigated or prosecuted as obstruction of justice or some other potential criminal matter, is there any reason why james comey couldnt testify as to the content of his conversations with the president . No, i dont believe the conversations that the president reports and has publicly said he had with mr. Comey about this are privileged. He is not asking as a matter of policy, a question that a president might appropriately raise with the criminal investigative process. He is asking a question that concerns him personally, his own liability in an active investigation. I dont believe its privilege. I dont think a claim of privilege would stand. And the further complication here is the president went about this in a way thats really quite selfdefeating. On top of all of that, he acknowledges in the interview with leather holt that when he had one of those conversations with mr. Trump, with mr. Comey, he and mr. Comey discussed whether mr. Comey would hold on the his job. And the president made it clear according to the president that he wasnt really willing to commit on that. So he is having a conversation with mr. Comey about his own personal liability at the same time as he is keeping open the possibility that mr. Comey might lose his job or might not lose his job. These facts taken together create at least a set of questions that im confident the lawyers around the president wish he had not raised. Who would hold him accountable for that . Well, the very criminal justice process that were talking about would hold him account form that. The department of justice, prosecutors certainly with the support of the investigative core at the fbi would look into a question of whether or not in these conversations taken together with other facts there was an attempt to obstruct justice. Now we dont know whether thats true. Well dont know whether thats true. But the president has put himself in a position where the question would not be unreasonably raised. Would the in terms of the if there is an fbi investigation of the obstruction of justice, would you expect appointees of the president to recues themselves from overseeing such an inquiry . Absolutely. Political appointees in absolutely. They would have to. Bob bauer, former president ial council to president obama. Thank you for helping us to understand that. You are a remarkably clear speaker on comp indicated matters. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Well be right back. We, the device loving people want more than just unlimited data. We want unlimited entertainment. 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A little bit of breaking news as we finish up our show tonight. The acting u. S. Attorney in the Southern District of new york is named june kim. We were talking earlier this hour about Preet Bharara being fired in the Southern District of new york. The acting u. S. Attorney in his place is june kim. We will not allow the u. S. System to be used for crimes anywhere, here or in russia. This comes after the Southern District of new york has announced a 6 million settlement of civil moneylaundering and forfeiture claims connected to russian tax fraud. But, again, a late night announcement from the Southern District of new york as vanity fair reports today that at least according to one fbi insider source, Preet Bharara was investigating trump moneylaundering concerns with regard to russia at the time he was fired by the Trump Administration. Its friday night. So that means the news is going to happen all night long. That does it for us tonight, though. We will see you again on monday. Now its time for the last word. Ari melber is in for lawrence this evening. I think the saying every action has a reaction, or this week ten reactions. Thats exactly right. No