Transcripts For MSNBCW The Rachel Maddow Show 20170823

Where the former chief of staff to the Top Republican of the senate, Mitch Mcconnell, his former chief of staff is issuing threats to President Trump that if he doesnt back off to do what hes doing to attack other republicans, he may find himself facing impeachment in the senate sooner rather than later. Unnamed republican sources are making serious allegations to the New York Times tonight that beyond the allegations already being investigated, that the president may have pressured the fbi to drop its russian investigation, beyond its existing investigation into whether or not the president obstructed justice when he fired the fbi director to try to stop the russia investigation, unnamed republican sources are telling the New York Times tonight that the president may also have tried to block the investigation into the russia matt are thats being conducted in the United States senate by the investigating committees in the United States senate. In fact, these allegations tonight from these republican sources speaking to the New York Times are that those efforts by the president to potentially obstruct those inquiries into that part of the russia matters, those efforts by the president may be continuing tonight as we speak. So, this is actually, i think, potentially very serious turn in the ongoing investigations into this president , into the russia scandals that continue to swirl around this presidency. Now, in order to understand whats going on here, though, the details of this, im just going to lay out the story as the New York Times tells its tonight. The details of this are going to sound like a politic story. But if you weighed through the beltway politics, looks like what it may be a new problem for the white house in terms of obstruction of justice personally. Heres the story. The president tonight has gone to phoenix arizona. It has a democratic mayor. The state also has a republican governor and two republican senators. It is not a accident tonight that neither the republican governor of arizona nor the two republican senators from arizona are going to be attending to event with the president. That is because those two republican senators from arizona at least, they appear to drive this president crazy. Even before arizona senator john mccain blocked the last republican effort to repeal kaim in the senate, the president s hatred and disdain for senator john mccain had brought trump close to political disaster, even targeting mccains war record. The junior senator from arizona is jeff flake, whos been more confrontational than almost any theres a look hes highly critical of himself and the Republican Party to allow trump to become the parties nominee. Since then trump has gone repeatedly after flake, giving him the school yard name Jeff Flake Flake jeff flake, hes been hyping a republican senator challenger in arizona who ran against john mccain and who wants to run against jeff flake in the next cycle. She lost quite badly to john mccain last year. Its hard to tell whether she poses a threat to jeff flake next were year, but shes expected to be at the rally. That comes after trump has spent days hyping up her candidatesy, i know that sounds like electoral politics, that is the immediate political context, the immediate political background of whats going on in this story. Mitch mcconnell is the Top Republican in the senate. Whatever you think of him as a plogs, leader, republican, he does take seriously his own responsibility in the senate to help other republican senators keep their seats, to help sitting republican senators fight off republican primary challengers, to win their general elections against democratic candidates, to fender off scandals that might unseat them. They very close, Mitch Mcconnell needs to keep 50 other republicans in the senate so he keeps his job running the senate, but other than the math, he just goes to bat for any sitting republican senator to keep them in their jobs. Now this republican president has moved on from insulting just one republican senator in arizona, to unseat the other republican senator in arizona, heading into the rally tonight we knew Mitch Mcconnell was upset with the president s behavior. We knew he was trying to undercut the impact of what the president was doing. We knew that Mitch Mcconnell was going to try to blunt the effect of trumps trip to arizona by hosting his own mcconnell high dollar fundraiser for jeff flake this week. We learned a pack associated with Mitch Mcconnell ran ads against that trump endorsed candidate. And i know how this sounds. If youre nrd in partisan politics and electoral politics and the balance of power in the senate, those are all interesting details, this is a interesting story, this is a interesting tale of inter trau party fighting to follow, but you only have to follow it that far before it jumps to a place that is way beyond politics. Tonight in the New York Times, this little politics store moved from interesting to. Theres the impiechment flet. A man biller piper is quoted by name tonight in the New York Times. Hes a lobbyist. He was chief of staff to senator mcconnell. And pilly piper throws this threat in the president s its important that he allows himself to be quoted by name is making it. Heres what he said, the quickest way for trump to get impeached is for him to knock off jeff flake and dean heller and be faced with a democrat led senate. That would be the place where you give bluster with this president a bluster citing becomes a fairly credible threat of impeachment for the president. And republicans apparently are not afraid to say it, including republicans very, very close to the Top Republican in the senate who controls what happens in the senate, Mitch Mcconnell. So, theres that, the impeachment threat. But heres the worst part from the white houses perspective. Apparently before trump and mcconnell stopped speaking to each other all together, which is where theyre at now, apparently the last time they spoke, they had what is described in the times tonight as a profane shouting match on the telephone. This reportedly happened on august 9th, President Trump apparently placed the call from one of his golf courses and spoke with senator mcconnell directly. Citing republicans quote briefed on the conversation, at the New York Times tonight report that there were two subjects that trump and mcconnell screamed and swore at each other about on that call on august 9th. Number one was whos responsible for republicans failing to repeal kaim. Got it. Knew that he were fighting about that already. But the other subject they apparently screamed and swore at each other about was something very different. Ill just goat to you directly from the times. During the call, which trump initiated on august 9th from his new jersey golf club, he accused senator mcconnell of he was even more and i mated about what he intimated was the Senate Leaders refusal to protect trump from investigations of russian interference in the 2016 election. Again, thats according to republicans briefed on the conversation. So, in a call that is described as devolume ving into a profane shouting match, the president is reportedly bee rating and screaming at and swearing at the majority leader in the senate because the senator hasnt protected him from the russia investigations that are being cared out under his purview by various committees in the senate. Again, this is according to multiple republican sources who were briefed on the that reported conversation between trump and mcconnell on august 9th. The reason that is potentially very important, the reason thats potentially a big for the white house here is because the criminal concept of obstruction of justice applies not only to law enforcement, fbi investigations, it also applies to efforts to influence, obstruct or impede the cue and proper exercise of the inquiry or investigation in either house and congress or a committee of house and congress if that sounds wordy and arcane its because in reading that, i am quoting the language of the criminal statute auto that defines obstruction of justice and makes clear that that applies to efforts to impede or pervert or pressure investigations not just by cops and prosecutors or the fbi, but efforts to impede or pervert or obstruct congressional investigations. Were going to have expert advice on that in just a moment. But remember how we got the special counsel investigations. Where the bob Mueller Investigation came from was not just allegations about russian interference in the last election, it was not just Trump Administration being caught lying about the reason we got the bob mueller special counsel investigation was because the president fired the director of fbi and that firing followed credible alleges that the fbi director was fired after he refused to aseed to pressure from the president that the fbi should drop the russia investigation. If the president has been and is now pressuring the leader of senate to drop the russia investigations that are under his purview in the senate, then thats not just personality driven political gossip, thats a big deal. I mean, particularly if hes been pressuring the Senate Leader to protect him from his russia investigations and the mcconnell has not been doing that to the president s satisfaction and now hes politically punishing mcconnell. And this is not secret cloak and dagger stuff. If this august 9th phone call reported in the new york time, if this happened the way these Republican Forces say happened, if he was bee rating mitch mconly over mcconnell not protecting him from the Senate Russia investigations, if thats true true, look what happened since that call happened. Since august 9th, the president has been using his twitter feed to he gave a press availability in new jersey where he suggested Senate Mcconnell should resign as the leader of the republicans in the senate. Now tonight the president is in arizona trying to inflict maximum political pain on Senate Republicans in direct political conflict with senator Mitch Mcconnell. Its one thing if thats just politics, its interesting but its politics. If instead this is a president politically punishing mcconnell for him reviewsing a aseed to the russia demands, this will open a investigation into potential the russia investigations having in the investigative committees in the senate, those investigations, as far as we can tell, are full steam ahead, today the Senate Judiciary committee took many hours of testimony from the head of the Political Research group behind the infamous dossier of russian dirt on donald trump. It was handed over to the fbi last year, who published by buzz feed in january, the source of a lot of controversy. Glen simpson, he was reportedly interviewed by Senate Judiciary staff today for ten hours. Theres one report tonight that he handed over systems 40,000 documents to the committee. Again, fusion gps, his outfit is the group that ultimately commissioned that dossier, and he just handed over 40,000 documents. The leader of that committee is republican senator chuck grassley. And weve talked about here on the show the fact senator grassley in the past has made a effort to try to undermine the does way by attacking its or engines and fusion gps. So far the efforts have been to no effect. But today nbc news reports that the man who created the dossier, not the one who commissioned it, but the former mi6 officer in britain who collected the evidence, wrote up the dossier in the first place, hired by fusion gps to create the dossier, not only has talked to the fbi in detail about the dossier and how he put it together, according to abs news today, Christopher Steele has given the fbi specific information about the identity of his sources that he used to put the dossier together. Now, if that is abc news report is true, that would allow the fbi to retrace Christopher Steeles steps to either verify or disprove what is in that incredibly inflammatory does dwra. Youll remember the key claim was that the Trump Campaign not only knowingly clued wlt russian attack on the eelection, but it was the end product of a years long relationship that involved the politically useful obtaining of information, that included extensive illicit financial ties between trump, trump businesses and russian entities including some that are close to vladimir putin. Thats whats in the dossier, right . If the firm that paid for that investigation just handed over 40,000 pages worth of documents, and the founder of that firm just gave 10 hours of testimony, and if the intelligence agent who collected that information has confided information about his sources to the fbi for their own investigation of those matters, well, then, you could see where the pressure might be boiling up from in terms of the white house really wanting to shut down these investigations. And looking ahead in terms of next steps, Christopher Steele himself the former mi6 agent, he is being eagerly sought by the investigative committees in the congress as a potential witness for their inquiries. We do not know if that would ever happen. That would be basically a truck load of political dynamite for this country if he testified and if his story held up. So, i mean, obviously there are high stakes here already. If this New York Times reporting and this abc news reporting tonight bears out, the stakes have gotten that much higher. I want to put one last point on it. We just got some exclusive new National Polling from ppp, Public Policy polling, its coming out tomorrow. Theyre giving it to us tonight exclusive. This is National Survey results fact organize in democrats and independents and republicans who, of course, remain very loyal to donald trump. Here are these national top line results. Do you think that the russia story is fake news or not . Answer from the american people, no, america does not think the russia story is fake news. Question 21, do you think that members of Donald Trumps Campaign Team worked in association with russia to help trump win the election for president or not . Answer from the american public, yes, we think members of Donald Trumps Campaign Team worked in association with russia to help trump win the election for president. And heres the crucial followup credit, question 22, if evidence comes out that proofs conclusively that mubs of Donald Trumps Campaign Team worked in association with russia to help trump win the election for president , do you think trump should continue to serve as president or do you think he should resign . Answer from the american people, by a 20 point margin, yeah, in that case trump should resign. So says a clear majority of american public. This is new National Polling from Public Policy polling, they gave us a advance look at some of these numbers tonight. In terms of methodology of this polling, it was conducted through yesterday, so it doesnt include any public reaction to whatever the president s going to say tonight in arizona, doesnt involve row action to the new reporting in New York Times that he may have another obstruction of justice line of inquiry to worry about now. This time whats been reported as a congressional were going to have expert advice on that potential new inquiry coming up, plus the phoenix mayor joining us live. We have a lot to get to. I love you, couch. You give us comfort. And we give you bare feet, backsweat, and gordos. Everything. I love you, but sometimes you stink. Soft surfaces trap odors. Febreze fabric refresher cleans them away for good. Because the things you love the most can stink. And plug in febreze to keep your whole room fresh for up to 45 days. Breathe happy with febreze. The uncertainties of hep c. Wondering, what if . I let go of all those feelings. Because i am cured with harvoni. 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Were following several breaking stories here tonight, including the forthcoming rally in phoenix that the president is holding there tonight despite requests from local officials that he not do it. The mayor of phoenix is going to join us in a moment. Were also following breaking news on another front related to the dossier of alleged russian dirt on donald trump. The Political Research group behind the dossier is fusion gps. The head of the firm is glen simpson, a former Investigative Reporter for the wall street journal. His legal team has just released a very interesting statement tonight. This has just come out tonight and its about the head of that firm, glen simpson, spending ten hours toads meeting behind closed doors with investigators from the Judiciary Committee in in the statement tonight, following this marathon testimony, fusion gps is describing the dossier about trump as a quote rode map for investigation investigation. They also say that they stand by their work. They stand by that dossier and whats in it. And then look at this. Look at how they end their statement. Theyre basically requesting that the committee release the transcript of the ten hours of interviewing that glen sat for today. The committee has a transcript of the interview, the committee has the right to disclose the transcript if it wish to do so. Which i think is fusion gps basically inviting the Judiciary Committee to make the content of the tenhour interview vailable and that statement and very provocative pros text has come on the heels of the New York Times rarting that the president acoring to republican sources may have pressured the Top Republican in the senate to protect him from the russia investigations happening in Congress Happening in congress. If that report is true, would that potentially open another line of inquiry into the president potentially having tried to obstruct justice on the russia investigation. Joining us now is barbara mcquade, a former u. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of michigan. Barbara, thank you for being with us tonight. Appreciate you being here on short notice. My pleasure. I feel like ive come to learn in recent months about what obstruction of justice might mean, what it means in criminal terms in terms of pervert or pressure a fbi inquiry. Does the same criminal frime work apply to somebody trying to block a investigation by congress yes, theres a different statute but a similar one in the criminal code that makes it a crime to corruptly or by threats obstruct, impede or interfere with an investigation bay congress or any committee of congress. Does the law spell that out . How far does that statute go in spelling out what kind of things would be considered obstruction . Well, it has the same kind of language. It parallels the same statute that covers investigations by agencies or the fbi. But the key words there really are corruptly or threaten. If this news report is true, it sounds like you would have the elements of an offense, certainly the facts always matter. But one thing thats really important in stark contrast to what we saw a couple of weeks ago when President Trump was threatening members of the senate like Lisa Murkowski in the legislative arena saying im going to withhold federal funds unless you vote for health care. Thats okay. Thats political hard ball. But when you get into congresss investigative powers and you seek to obstruct those, that is a crime. Is that something that because its a crime or is that something the department of jft or fbi would look into. The fbi and department of justice looks into it. I think Robert Mueller who has the authority to look between ties between russia and the Trump Campaign and matters that may rise out of it, including obstruction of justice. I think Robert Mueller and his team would be interested in learning the facts of this incident, it would be part of any indictment that goes to congress. In these cases it can bolster another if you have a effort to indim tate with james comey and another count that has the same kind of theme against senator mcconnell here, those two counts can really become self bolstering of each other. It demonstrates a common scheme or plan that helps bolster both of those counts. If mcconnell is the key witness, if it happened in a phone call, whats described in the New York Times today there were other republicans briefed on the call, but if he were alone with the president on the call he would be the key witness here, could Robert Mueller compel him to testimony, is there anything about his status as majority leader that prevents him protect him from being compels i think he would first obtain information through a interview with senator mcconnell in hopes that he can get it that way, only if he was not able to provide that voluntarily would he have to go to that pressure of compelling him. Theres nothing that would correct him from being compelled undered law. Former u. S. Attorney in michigan thank you for your time and always for your incredible clarity. All right. Mayor of phoenix joins us live in a moment. Stay with us. And hey, unmanaged depression, dont get too comfortable. Were talking to you, cost inefficiencies and data without insights. 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The combination of the heat, the controversy over the president s recent remarks on race, the vitriolic immigrant speech he gave the last time he was in phoenix, the president has abandoned the idea of using tonights appearance to grant a pardon to the recently convicted sheriff of maricopa county. All of these things have combined to create real worries about what was going to happen at this rally, potential clashes between Trump Supporters and trump protesters. Police have been trying to keep the two sides separate. The democratic mayor has been making the case in the recent days that the president shouldnt do this, shouldnt take it out on phoenix if he has a continuing desire to stoke racial tensions after his people at the white supremacist march last week. Joining us now from phoenix is the mayor greg stanton who asked the president to pose tone the trip. Thank you for making time to be here tonight so far things have gone very so far things have gone very smoothly in the city of phoenix. There have been huge crowds, people expressing their First Amendment rights outside of the Convention Center, a large number of people entering the Convention Center to hear mr. Trumps speech. I was disheartened when the press secretary said there would be no pardon for sheriff joe. Were still going to pay close attention. But i think that that announcement that there was no pardon for sheriff joe and all of his civil Rights Violations did make us feel better that things were going to go better here in phoenix tonight. Thats great news about the peaceful nature to have protests and the fact that there hasnt been violence that people were so worried about tonight. Obviously thats why a lot of people have their eyes on phoenix tonight is partly because of those worries. I have to ask you about the photos weve seen today of folks with guns, Trump Supporters with guns and protesters open carrying tonight. Arizona is an open carry state. Does the presence of so many visible guns at tonights protests increase your concern . Yes, it does. And i wish that people who were coming downtown to express their First Amendment rights either opposing the president and his policies and unfortunately his failure of moral leadership after charlottesville just a few days ago or those who support the president would leave their weapons at home. They dont need to try to antagonize others in the audience by bringing those very large weapons. Its unfortunate but arizona is an open carry state and there have been no arrests for any weapons violations in phoenix tonight. And mr. Mayor, you were quite outspoken ahead of that that you did not want the president to come to phoenix and do this rally, you were worry about about his motivations coming there. Did the president reach out to you, did the white house ever contact you to address your concerns or to find out more about whether there was a way they could do this that would be less antagonistic . Did you ever have any contact with them . I put out a public statements strongly makes the case that this is not the time for the Campaign Rally. The phoenix Convention Center was rented by the trump for president campaign. Such a short time after the tragedy in charlottesville, the tragic murder of a young lady at the potential pardon of sheriff joe. Shortly after a spokesperson said they were not going to heed any advice and move forward with the Campaign Rally in phoenix. And they never called you about it and you didnt peek to the president. I didnt have the opportunity to speak to President Trump. I didnt reasonably expect that he would listen to me. But i think the point had to be made. I think i had to make the point i spoke for most phoenix iance, after the president failed to miserably to provide leadership in the country after the tragedy in charlottesville that such a short time there after to do a Campaign Rally in phoenix, it wasnt right. I stand by my statement it should have been postponed. We dont say dont ever do it. But this wasnt the right time in phoenix. Phoenix fair greg stanton. Thank you for joining us. Let us know if you hear from the president any time soon. We will. These birds once affected by oil are heading back home. Thanks to dawn, rescue workers only trust dawn, because its tough on grease yet gentle. I am home, i am home, i am home con artists. theyll try anything to get your Medicare Card number. So they can steal your identity, commit medicare fraud. What can you do . Guard your card . Guard your card . Just like your credit card. Nobody gets my number, unless i know they should have it. 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Nobody had ever really shorted those things before in the market. Nobody had ever made a big multimillion dollar bet that the price of the credits was going drop. But karl icon did. Why did he do that . Well, turns out that karl icahn was going to be named Donald Trumps special adviser on regulatory reform. And after he got that adviser gig, he set about advising the president to do things that would drop the price of those credits. So then he could collect on that otherwise mysterious a typical bet that he made that those credit would get cheaper. It sounds complicated if you dont follow short selling and market stuff like this all of the time. But its a simple and jaw dropping thing. Billionaire bets on the market that a thing will happen, billionaire then joins Trump Administration to ensure that that thing will in fact happen. Billionaire collects. Thats it. Congratulations. Your country is now a former soviet corruptstan and the ruling family would like to see you right now. This is textbook Banana Republic corruption. People taking government jobs that then they use to make themselves rich in the private sector. The thanks actually most unnerving about the karl icahn story is how in the hope its been happening. Reuters made this chapter showing how the credits dropped. Trump named and epa director who shares carl icahns views and the white house announced that he will have an official role as an adviser and the credits dropped a little more and then a new biofuels regulation plan conceived by karl icahn was delivered to the white house and the price of those credits dropped more. Every time that happened, that bet that he made was Getting Better and better. If you made that bet a few months back that the value of the credits would drop, yeah, you made a prettily good bet but it looks like your actions as part of the Trump Administration are what made that bet turn out so well for you. This is just textbook. In the months after trumps election the stock price of karl icahns company which directly benefitted from the dropping price of the credits, the stock price of his Refinery Company nearly doubled. Thats hundreds of millions of dollars for karl icahn. But now karl icahn is out, he resigned as regulatory adviser of the president last week, resigned moments before the new yorker published this bombshell piece detailing, and i mean detailing just exactly how karl icahn used his position in the Trump Administration to make himself hundreds of millions of dollars. Experts interviewed by the new yorker strongly suggesting that he may have legal concerns that follow him home from that job that he just quit. The chief execer officer of george w. Bush saying hes walking into possible criminal charges. Quote, he cited a federal statute that makes it illegal for executive branch employees to work on me matter in which they may have a direct financial interest. The president and the Vice President are exempted from that statute unpaid white house advisers like karl icahn are not exempted from it. Quote, if i were carl icahns private lawyer, i would tell him he should not have accepted that adviser title. Consider that advice taken retro actively. This is the defense. This sin credible. The white house and karl icahn are now pretending that never happen. That he was never appointed to anything in the Trump Administration. He never had that title. Honestly this is their defense. The white house tells the new yorker that karl icahn never had a quote formal appointment or title after inauguration day. Never had it. Theyre saying this never happened. President elect donald trump names karl icahn special adds visor to the president on regulatory reform. That is their own press release. Theyre saying this never happened. No way. Why would you think that this happened . Why would you think he had been named a special regulatory adviser to President Trump . Why would you think something so crazy. Clearly that never happened. This is the press release. The white house lawyer in charge of conflicts of interest making sure that conflicts of interest like this dont happen in the u. S. Government is saying that karl icahn never had that gig at all, despite what you might have heard. They claim he was quote simply a private citizen. That lawyer thats the ethics lawyer. That lawyer thats supposed to make sure that karl icahn is complying the ethics laws, that lawyer used to work for karl icahn, clearly hes in a great to be the arbiter of ethics here. Were not post soviet core upt i stand. Isnt somebody going to police this . Is anybody going to investigate this . The Justice Department does have a big hairy corruption unit, right . Are they going to investigate this at doj or could the attorney general in new york, could he investigate this . Even if you are cynical, maybe if you expected this from the outset with the administration, this is really bananas. This is as blatant as it gets. And then you totaled him. You two had been through everything together. Two boyfriends, three jobs. Youre like nothing can replace brad. Then Liberty Mutual calls. And you break into your happy dance. If you sign up for better car replacement™, well pay for a car thats a model year newer with 15,000 fewer miles than your old one. Liberty stands with you™. Liberty mutual insurance. Theso when i need to book tant to mea hotel room,tion. I want someone that makes it easy. Booking. Com gets it. And with their price match, i know im getting the best price every time. Visit booking. Com. Booking. Yeah is everything ok . Adt, i could hear crackling in the walls, and my mind went totally blank. All i remember saying was, my boyfriends beating me and she took it from there. When a fire is going on, youre running around, youre not thinking clearly, so they called the Fire Department for us. And all of this occurred in four minutes or less. Within five minutes. I am absolutely grateful we all made it out safely. Its kind of one of those things you cant even. You cant even thank somebody. People you dont know actually care about you. To protect what you love, call 1800adtcares but their nutritional needs vremain instinctual. D, thats why theres purina one true instinct. Nutrientdense, proteinrich, real meat number one. This is a different breed of nutrition. Purina one, true instinct. This is one of those nights breaking news from washington just in the last couple of minutes. The Inspector General office has launched a ethics investigation into a member of donald trump cab bet, interior secretary ryan syncy. Hes posted a letter from the office of Inspector General at the department of interior. What this is about is apparently interior secretary making calls reportedly threatening federal resources for the state of alaska in order to pressure senator lisa mer cous ski on health care reform. We were just discussing this with barbara mckwad, a u. S. Attorney, she was describing this as a example of log rolling, something distasteful but not criminal. It is the sub of a open ethics investigation by the interior department Inspector General. That news breaking moments ago. Joining us now, recall ter should wash. He was the director of the office of ethics, hes the senior mr. Shaw thank you for being here its weirdly timely that youre with us. I think every day is weirdly timely these days. On ethics, yes. I dont know if you saw the news before i announced it, but i want to get your top line news that the Inspector General at the interior department is looking into the calls placed bizeinke. I isnt seen it until you posted it. I dont know the details. Having worked with the inspeektor General Community and having sat at the council as part of my job of the office of government ethics is that these are serious investors. Were fortunate that cabinet agencies like the service of interior have inspectors general. Theres no such thing in the white house. Unfortunately for mr. Zeinkz is that he better cooperate. Let me ask you about the new reporting concerning carl icahn, hes a farmous big figure. Weve been following for months this Good Business reporting how he might have been using his position as a regulatoriy adviser to the president to self deal, to help make himself many millions of dollars by effecting a price of a regulatoriy instrument that shaped the bottom line financial picture for his company. This is all seems to have happened out in the open. How have you viewed this reporting . Is this sort of business as usual . Is this a serious matter of ethical concern . Its no overstatement to say this is one of the most sin sister episodes of ethical concern in this administration, ang frankly any time since i began working in the Ethics Program 15, 17 years ago. What we have here is a situation where the white house and presumably aided by the White House Counsels Office whose ethics official was a former attorney for carl icahn, have stayed out of it and have not ruled that hes a federal employee. They tell patrick keith, the reporter who wrote the reporter article that they didnt analyze it. The spokesperson said theres no need to analyze this. Of course theres a need to analyze this because the criminal conflict of interest stat uch says if youre a federal employee, you simply cannot participate in matters that are going to affect your own financial interest. The question here is whether mr. Icon was a federal employee or not, and the white house is telling us they never even sat down and analyzed that. You sent a series of tweets in response to his report that basically was a emergency flair to the Public Integrity section of the Justice Department asking them to take a look at it. To help senator grassley in the Senate Judiciary committee if they want to look at this. Who should be investigating this. It feels like a incredibly blatant red flag here if not more than that. Who is job is this to police this. Flair is right. I feel like im standing at the desk of the titanic. This is a serious issue. The reporter did a extraordinary job, he did the department of justice job for him. He uncovered significant information that raises enough smoke. Mr. Iekon may have another side to the story, but there is certainly enough here that the department of Justice Needs to dig into this and look at it, or the Judiciary Committee should have a hearing either about carl icahns status about when he was a employee or into the department of justices failure to look into this. This entire matter unfoaled without involvement of the office of ethics. When you go to the department of justifies and ask them for help as the director of ethic, the actual response i got from the head of Public Integrity this year was, we read the paper, too, so we dont need you reporting things to us. Wow. Walter schwab, former director of office of ethics, senior director of office of ethics. Well be right back. Stay with us whoooo. Going somewhere . Heres some advice. Tripadvisor now searches more. Than 200 booking sites to find the hotel you want and save you up to 30 . Trust this birds words. Tripadvisor. Edible arrangements for summer. Order in store or online. One laugh, and hello sensitring a bell . Then you have to try always discreet. I didnt think protection this thin could work. But the super absorbent core turns liquid to gel. For incredible protection. Snap so its out of sight. And out of mind. Always discreet. For bladder leaks. Ive discovered incredible bladder leak underwear that hugs every curve. Cant tell im wearing it, can you . Always discreet underwear. For bladder leaks. You dont let anything lkeep you sidelined. Come on thats why you drink ensure. With 9 grams of protein, and 26 vitamins and minerals. For the strength and energy, to get back to doing what you love. Ensure, always be you. This has been another one of those nights with a burchl of different breaking news stories including a new forever the course of the hour. Recap breaking news includes news from the New York Times about the president reportedly pressuring the leader of the senate to protect the president , that was the language used, protect him from the russia investigation conducted by senate committees, weve had news about the 10 hours herself closed door Senate Testimony from the founder of the firm of the trump russia good evening, rachel. Ive learned so much in your hour. First of all that people in phoenix are called phonicians. Which the mayor of phoenix said on your show. I did not know that. Nor did i