Thank you. And thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. If youd like to vote for susan to host the next Rachel Maddow show taking your calls live on the air about gardening tips you can vote you cant. Happy monday. You know, theres been a lot of complaining, public complaining by the president. Theres been a lot of all capital letters misspelled tweeting by the president. Theres been a lot of cheerleading by the president for people who go on the Fox News Channel and make arguments disparaging the fbi or Robert Mueller or the special counsels investigation into the russia issue. Theres been a lot of noise. A lot of complaining. A lot of yelling. But if you clear aside all that noise, if you treat this president and this administration as a silent movie and you pay no attention to what they say and you only observe what they do, it really is twice now that the president has takeown fishtak takeown fishel action as president to try to wart the russia investigation. The first was a year ago when he fired james comey. The president later plning it was the russia investigation what tha was on his mind when he made the decision to do that. That was the first time he didnt just complain or sort of squawk about the investigation, he actually did something. That was a year ago. Now a year later for a second time he has acted. This time he ordered a Justice Department investigation of the russia investigation. He wants the people investigating him to themselves be subject to a doj investigation which he is demanding. The president has made a lot of noise. Hes expressed a lot of opinions. He has taunted and deride people about the russia investigation in his usual way. But when were talking about action, were talking about overt actions hes taken as president using the power of the presidency to effect some sort of change when it comes to the russia investigation, what happened with him yesterday, with him demanding this investigation, thats basically only the second time hes acted overtly and officially to interfere with the Justice Department to try to affect that inquiry. That said, to the extent that the Justice Department has been interfered with a few times as it has tried to conduct this inquiry, it should be noted the Justice Department hasnt exactly been a brick house here. The Justice Department itself has been swaying a little bit in these prevailing winds. Not just in the face of the president s actions but even just his squawking. Even just his making noise to put pressure on the Justice Department and the investigation. We saw it first around the comey firing. You might remember that comeys firing was bolstered by a memo from Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein which attested to a fictitious premise that comey was being fired because hed been so unfair to Hillary Clinton in the clinton email investigation during the campaign. We know that was a fictitious premise because were not dumb. But also because within 48 hours of that memo being released and comey getting fired the president himself went on nbc news and said actually i fired comey because of russia. The president also explained to highranking russian officials who turned up in a surprise visit to the oval office, he told them that firing comey would relieve the great pressure that had been on him over the russia investigation. Thats all over now. The president was clearly going to fire james comey. He admits he was going to fire him because of the russia investigation to try to thwart that investigation. Given that, why did the Justice Department, why did the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein specifically, have to help the president with that by providing this false cover story about comey . To make it seem like comey was being fired for . Other reason. Why did the Justice Department do that . The Justice Department also showed itself to be responsive to pressure from republican members of congress and conservative media when they released to congress and to reporters personal Text Messages between two fbi officials, even though those officials were still serving at the fbi and their personal relationship and their text message conversations were at that time the subject of an Ongoing Investigation by the departments Inspector General. I mean, the Justice Department of all agencies is well within its rights to say sorry, that matter is the subject of an Ongoing Investigation, the public will not have access to any internal documents relevant to that investigation until the investigation is complete. Everyone can say that when theres Ongoing Investigations. But the Justice Department in particular. They could have said that when it came to the Text Messages between two fbi officials. But instead they just released the texts, gave them to reporters, gave them to congress. Why did they do that . They did not have to do that. Justice Department Also released james comeys memos that he had written about his interactions with President Trump before he was fired. By all accounts those memos are believed to be key evidence in the obstruction of justice inquiry into the president s behavior. That obstruction of justice inquiry is still under way. But the Justice Department nevertheless handed over that key evidence in the middle of that investigation. Why did the fbi and the Justice Department do that . Justice department and the fbi also have shed nearly all of the senior officials who were corroborating witnesses for james comey at the time he wrote up those memos, when he was documenting his interactions with the president because those interactions were very irregular, they were seemingly improper. Comey wrote those memos to document those interactions. He confided in other senior Law Enforcement officials at the time in order to create a record of those interactions with the president in case it someday needed to be used as evidence. The Justice Department and the fbi have since shed or demoted most of those officials who comey confided in. While the president has led a Systematic Campaign of attacking them one by one, often by name. Within the Justice Department the Inspector General investigation into those corroborating witnesses, into fbi departmenty director Andrew Mccabe, that investigation was inexplicably accelerated to match a time frame demanded by President Trump so Andrew Mccabe would not just get in trouble from that i. G. Report, he would get in trouble by a specific date that would result in him losing his accumulated pension from decades of service at the fbi. Inspector general investigates all sorts of allegations and issues within the Justice Department and the fbi. Theres no other known instance in which they have pursued that kind of an investigation on a specifically accelerated time frame to make sure they nailed that official in a way that would inflict maximum public humiliation and maximum financial pain. But the president explicitly demanded that when it came to the case of Andrew Mccabe, and that is what the Inspector General did. Whyd they do that . They didnt have to do that. The Justice Department also did push back initially on demands from protrump republican members of congress when those members of congress wanted to see fisa warrant applications that were used to obtain a courts permission to conduct surveillance on a former Trump Campaign aide named carter page. Members of Congress Supporting President Trump demanded to see those warrant applications. The Justice Department initially pushed back. I mean, fisa warrants and fisa warrant applications, that kind of information is very, very highly secret. Its never handed over. They never even admit to the existence of fisa warrants in public. But in this case they caved. They hand over those fisa warrant applications to congress. As far as we know, that is totally unprecedented. Why did they do that . They did not have to do that. Theyve never done it before. They also handed over to congress whats called the electronic communication, which is a very genericsounding name. In this specific instance it is a term of art which means they handed over the initial document, we think its a twopagelong document, that created the russia investigation at the fbi. The initial document setting out the investigation and setting it in motion. Justice department handed that over. All these things were handed over to congress. All this information about an Ongoing Investigation that the Justice Department nevertheless decided to share with trumpsupporting members of congress in the middle of that investigation. And theres no honestly, were being realistic here, theres no reason to believe that those documents and that information only went as far as congress. Why wouldnt protrump members of Congress Just convey that stuff directly to the white house once they got their hands on it . Right . Might help the president in his defense. If youre the subject of a criminal inquiry, imagine how helpful it would be to have access in the middle of that investigation to the prosecutors theory of the case when they open their investigation into you, to have their physical written documents about what they were coming after you for. I mean, to have the supporting materials that were shown to a judge in order to justify a surveillance warrant against somebody who was working for you. That would be veryll helpful if you were the subjective a criminal investigation, to have that kind of window in the middle of an investigation into the prosecutors approach and their evidence and their strategy. I mean, the Justice Department incrementally, piece by piece, has just been handing all of this stuff over. And when they hand it over to protrump members of congress, presumably those protrump members of congress are just directing that stuff to the attention of the white house and the president and his legal team so they can help him in his case. None of this is the way things usually are done. And honestly, however this all shakes out, whats already been done by the Justice Department in the past year and a half will inflect forever any future assertion by the government that they cant hand something over because it pertains to an Ongoing Investigation. Forever now. There is a rejoinder that oh, yeah . Look what you did during the trump administration. Look at all that ongoing investigative material you that handed over. Theyve already broken those norms for the trump presidency. Why have they done that . I dont know. But even with that very difficult history of the last year, now the Justice Department is crossing yet another rubicon. When the president demanded yesterday that the Justice Department open an investigation into the way the russia investigation has been conducted, the Justice Department responded instantly by saying, yes, sir, will do. Deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein announcing right after the president tweeted his demand yesterday, Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein responded that in fact, yes, the Justice Department would direct the Inspector General to investigate the president s latest claims that theres something terrible and improper about the russia investigation into him and his campaign. It was only three weeks ago that Rod Rosenstein gave those dramatic public remarks at an event in washington where he insisted that the Justice Department will not be extorted. He gave an eloquent series of public remarks about the importance of the rule of law and the Justice Department maintaining its independence and not bending to any external pressure or threats. But now three weeks later Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department are letting the president and his supporters in Congress Cross another line in the sand, to encroach on and in some ways get access to this Ongoing Investigation that really is about him and his campaign. And its not like acceding these demands is buying them all thatch breathing room. After Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein announced that he would tell the Inspector General to start investigating the president s new claims about the russia inquiry, well, the president today summoned him, summoned Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein and the director of the fbi, summoned them to come to the white house to talk about this matter. I mean, step back from there for a second. Under normal circumstances it would be astonishing for the president to summon the head of the Justice Department and the head of the fbi to come to the white house to discuss the ongoing case against him. But that is what happened today. It wasnt like a meeting with the white house counsel. It was the president calling them up there to meet with him. To talk about the investigation into him. And then it appears to have gotten worse. At least it appears to have gotten worse. Were not totally sure what happened thereafter. Republican members of congress for several weeks now have been demanding that the Justice Department should also give them all information that the department has concerning a confidential source who reportedly made contact with three people on the Trump Campaign who were believed to have some sort of contact with russian agents while russia was interfering in the election. Even in the abstract that kind of information is the holy grail for the Justice Department and the fbi, right . You dont you dont out your Confidential Sources. If you do, why would anybody ever be a confidential source for the fbi ever again . You dont reveal the identities of your sources who take action and collect information surreptitiously for the fbi or the cia. You dont expose them because you dont want to engage those sources. You dont want to blow any investigations they might be part of in an ongoing way. Thats supposed to be sacrosanct, right . Well, in this case republican congressman devin nunes, the head of the Intelligence Committee in the house, his subpoena for information about the confidential source that talked to members of the Trump Campaign, his subpoena reportedly demands all information that the Justice Department has related to that individual, which means what devin nunes has demanded from the Justice Department is not just the identity of that source and what actions he has taken on behalf of the u. S. Government while operating in a covert capacity. That subpoena would also appear to be an effort to pry out of the Justice Department whatever evidence he turned up, whatever information and evidence that informant was able to turn up when in fact he talked to people on the Trump Campaign about russia, what russia was doing. The Justice Department has been sliding down this slippery slope for months, handing over the kind of information they never release about Ongoing Investigations. But the identity of a confidential source, all Justice Department records about that source . The evidence that sort was able to turn up in an investigation that is still ongoing . Youre going to hand that over to people like congressman nunes, who is absolutely going to turn that around and hand it to the president Whose Campaign is being investigated here . Thats insane. He was a senior official on the trump transition. He was part of the Trump Campaign. Youre going to give him this documentation, this never the kind of information you never hand over about if i investigation, youre going to hand it to him in the middle of the investigation . Thats insane. After Rod Rosenstein and christopher wray, the fbi director, were summoned to the white house today, the White House Communications director then released a sort of vague statement which implied that this insane eventuality had come to pass. It was agreed that white house chief of staff john kelly will immediately set up a meeting with the fbi, the Justice Department, and the director of National Intelligence together with congressional leaders to review highly classified and other information they have requested. Review highly classified and other information they have requested. Does that mean the Justice Department is going to slide further down the slope today and actually hand over this information that nunes has tried to subpoena from them, this information on their confidential source, on whatever evidence he gathered in the Trump Campaign . We dont really know. Heres how the Washington Post put it tonight. I thought they summed up the ambiguity here pretty well. The significance of that statement was not immediately clear. Justice Department Leaders have fought vigorously against revealing to Congress Materials on the confidential source. It was not clear whether they had backed down from their position and would now allow Republican Leaders to look at the documents or whether there would simply be a followup meeting for further discussion. So the Washington Post is saying okay, they had this meeting, they summoned to the white house for the president to talk to them about his case, then afterwards theyre setting up a meeting where members of congress are going to get this information theyre demanding . What are they actually going to get . We followed up as well with the Justice Department tonight to find out if in fact the Justice Department is handing over the documents that nunes has subpoenaed on this fbi confidential source. Justice Department Spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores clarified to us tonight that the exact word choice, the specificity of the white house statement on this is important. Let me put that statement back up there. The white house statement said specifically that this meeting will be set up with congressional leaders to review highly classified and other information that they have requested. Information that they have requested is not the same as documents that they have requested. From the Justice Department spokesperson, information is different than documents. Okay. So it sounds like Justice Department and the fbi and the director of National Intelligence have agreed to maybe brief congressional leaders, maybe describe information to them about this confidential source but not hand them pieces of paper, not hand them documents related to this source. Which is what republicans have been trying to get. So thats where we think we are. At least thats the insight we have into the ambiguity tonight. Bottom line, hows the old rule of law holding up . How are the institutions of Law Enforcement in this country and counterintelligence holding up against pressure from a president and his supporters in congress who are leaning on them with all their might . It sort of depends on how you look at it right now. Either Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department are pursuing a strategy of appeasement, which never works. You keep giving in to increasing demands for more and more information and more and more compromise of the independence of the department and it will never be enough and all you do is make yourself weaker with every new concession, with every new unprecedented encroachment on the investigation and its integrity. Bad. Or from the sunny side of the street, maybe theyre playing tleemd mentional chess. Maybe Rod Rosenstein and the Justice Department are pursuing a strategy of strategic flexibili flexibility. Maybe. Where they make it look like theyre giving in so the president eases up for a second. At least nobody has to resign in protest. Nobody gets fired. And they all get to live to fight another day. But really these concessions theyre making, these allowed intrusions are more carefully calibrated than we can tell at first glance and theyre really not doing too much damage . To that, to bolster that sunny side way of looking at it, you should look at the statement that rosenstein actually made when he gave in to the president s demand that the russia investigation itself get investigated. The statement from rosenstein was really spectacularly specific. The investigation he ordered is supposed to determine whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the fbi conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the russian agents who interfered in the 2016 president ial election. Thats the investigation that he ordered after the president s tweet. So on the one hand, he is giving in to the president s tweeted demand for a new investigation. On the other hand, hes confirming in his statement that the fbi was engaged in a counterintelligence investigation of people who were suspected of involvement with the russian agents who were interfering in the election at the time. And those people who were the subject of that counterintelligence investigation were on the Trump Campaign. Its kind of actually good to have that all laid out in black and white. Thats all confirmed now. Okay. And honestly, if hes confident that there wasnt any, what does he say, impropriety or political motivation in how the fbi conducted that investigation, then maybe its not giving away much. To allow the Inspector General to look into it. How do we know . How do we know whether Rod Rosenstein is doing the right thing . Is there something about the way he and the Justice Department are acting that can tell us whether theyre being smart and strategically flexible to protect the mueller investigation, to insulate Law Enforcement from the worst of what the president and his allies have in mind, or are they just giving away the store, giving, in caving, and leaving us with a new world, right . From here on out where the Justice Department is expected ever more to hand over fisa applications, to hand over live evidence from Ongoing Investigations, to brief members of congress on their Confidential Sources and the evidence those sources turned up in highly sensitive investigations that have not yet come to their natural end. I mean, thats the precedent that is already created forever more by the behavior of this Justice Department under this president , during this investigation. Was that all given away for nothing . Has this all been pointless appeasement, or is there some genius at work here . How do we tell . Joining us now is benjamin wittes, editor in chief of law fair. Thank you for being here. Thanks for having me. Its oversimplified to say appeasement versus strategically flexible genius, but with the understanding that thats an oversimplification, do you come down clearly on one side or the other of that . Actually, i dont think its a particular oversimplification. I think its pretty accurate. And im going to throw you a curveball and say i think what theyre doing is both. I think they are in an impossible situation and theyre handling it by making a whole lot of incremental adjustments and accommodations that set terrible precedents and that are on their own terms really bad rotten deals and they are also playing for time to give the mueller to protect the mueller investigation. Theyre keeping their eye on the big picture, which is that they have a Major Investigation to protect whose integrity they need to protect and that needs time to finish its work. And whether at the end of the day the more important component is what you call the appeasement or the more component is the tactical ropeadoping that allows the that buys time for mueller and that protects that investigation, i think were just going to have to wait and see to find out. But i think i am at once very uncomfortable with the accommodations that theyre making and very sympathetic to the situation that they find themselves in. And with that understanding is there something you that feel like absolutely cannot be traded away, that there is something that feels to you like a rubicon, once youve gone there theres no coming back, theres nothing thats worth trading away for that . Is there one thing that youre watching for in terms of something that should be seen as a breaking point . Yeah, there are two. But one of them unfortunately isnt up to them. So one of them is whether the executive branch turns over material about a confidential informant to congress for purposes of discrediting an investigation of the president. I think that is an unthinkable thing to do. The problem is that thats not really up to them. Thats actually up to donald trump whether the executive branch, which is donald trump, turns over that information is really his decision to make unfortunately. The one that is up to them, you know, is whether the Justice Department launches a criminal investigation as distinct from, you know, kicking something to the i. G. Of based on a fantastical Conspiracy Theory that the president and his supporters dreamt up. And for the fbi to open a real investigation of such a matter is a rubicon that they really must not cross. And thats really what the president demanded. And i think what Rod Rosenstein was trying to do in kicking it to the i. G. Was to deflect it both in the way that youre describing but also, you know, kicking something to the i. G. Is a little bit less its a lot less of a step than opening an investigation in a formal criminal sense. Benjamin wittes, editor in chief of lawfare. Always clarifying to speak with you, sir. Thank you very much for being here. Good talking with you. Lots to get to tonight. The news gods filled a reservoir of news over the course of today and over the course of this weekend. Swim across it with us. When we get back. Stay with us. Feel the clarity of nondrowsy childrens claritin allergy relief. The 1 pediatrician recommended nondrowsy brand. Because to a kid a grassy hill is irresistible. Childrens claritin. Feel the clarity and live claritin clear. That goes beyond assumingl pet ingredients are safe. To knowing they are. Going beyond expectations. Because our pets deserve it. Beyond. Natural pet food. Hi dad. No. Edont try to get up. Hi, im julie, a right at home caregiver. And if id been caring for toms dad, i would have noticed some dizziness that could lead to balance issues. Thats because im trained to report any changes in behavior, no matter how small, so tom could have peace of mind. Well be right there. We have to go. Hey, tom. You should try right at home. Theyre great for us. The right care. Right at home. If youre like me, when you read this headline in the New York Times above a picture of trump tower, trump jr. And other aides met with gulf emissary offering help to win election, you may have thought to yourself, yeah, sure. Ive known about this for a long time. The trump tower meeting with donald trump jr. And the hold on. Whats that word gulf doing there . Gulf emissary . I thought the trump tower meeting was with russians. Is this a whole different trump tower meeting . Yes. Yes, this is a whole different trump tower meeting. Pinch yourself. Three months before the 2016 election a small group gathered at trump tower to meet with donald trump jr. One was an israeli specialist in social media manipulation. Another was an emissary for two wealthy arab princes. The third was a republican donor with a controversial past in the middle east as a private security contractor. The emissary from the two wealthy arab princes told donald trump jr. That the princes who led saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president. Okay. Now, they were eager to help. Emirates and saudi. But its not clear from this article exactly what the help was that they were offering. They wanted to help. But how did they want to help . That brings us to another one of the guys at this meeting. Joel zamel, whos been described as a specialist in social media manipulation from the timess reporting. His company employed several israeli former intelligence officers. However much the guy representing the United Arab Emirates and saudi arabia was expressing that those countries were eager to help trump win the election, the way the times reports it this other guy, joel zamel, was the guy at the meeting who came in with something specific to offer. According to the times, he extolled his companys ability to give an edge to a political campaign. By that time the firm had already drawn p a multimilliondollar proposal for a social media manipulation effort to help elect donald trump. The plan used thousands of fake social media accounts to promote trumps candidacy on platforms like facebook. Joel zam p. Els lawyer says his client never pitched such a proposal at all. He told us mr. Zamel offered onothing to the Trump Campaign, received nothing from the Trump Campaign, delivered nothing to the Trump Campaign and was not solicited by or asked to do anything for the Trump Campaign. Okay. What we do know from previous New York Times reporting is that mr. Zamel was stopped at a wshd wshd airport in february and had his electronics seized by federal agents working for the special counsel. Mr. Zamel also reportedly later appeared before the grand jury thats been impaneled by the special counsel. His lawyer says hes just a witness in the probe. But this reporting about a supposedly offered social media manipulation proposal possibly related to this offer of help from the emirates and saudi arabia, this is all new. Its also super weird, right . Because this trump tower meeting was in august 2016. We know by then a social media manipulation project that sounds an awful lot like that was already happening in the president ial campaign. It was what weve come to know as the russian governments interference in our election. Robert mueller this past february indicted 13 russians and three companies for carrying it out. So this plan that was reportedly pitched by joel zamel, this plan that he ostensibly put together, what was that . The times reports that joel zamels companies do have some ties to russia, having done work for putinlinked oligarchs. Is that the connection . If representatives from the emirates and saudi arabia were pitching the Trump Campaign, a social media manipulation plan to help trump win the election, was that plan in fact the election interference operation that weve been calling the russian interference effort all this year, or part of it . If not why prepare a proposal for something thats already being done, something that was already happening at that moment . Hold that thought. Dear foremothers, your society was led by a woman, who governed thousands. Commanded armies. Yielded to no one. When i found you in my dna, i learned where my strength comes from. My name is courtney mckinney, and this is my ancestrydna story. Now with 5 times more detail than other dna tests. Order your kit at ancestrydna. Com but prevagen helps your brain detaiwith an ingredientests. Originally discovered. In jellyfish. In clinical trials, prevagen has been shown to improve shortterm memory. Prevagen. The name to remember. 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So the New York Times now reports that three months before the 2016 election donald trump jr. Met at trump tower with an emissary from saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates. At that meeting that emissary told mr. Trump that those two countries wanted to help donald trump win the president ial election. Also at that meeting a man named joel zamel described as an expert in social media manipulation it who reportedly had prepared a multimilliondollar proposal to help trump win through tactics like using thousands of fake social media accounts to promote trumps candidacy online. Now, mr. Zamels lawyer denies his client prepared anything or offered anything to the Trump Campaign, but according to the timess reporting this guy zamel was paid 2 million bucks right after the election. What for . I dont know. Joining us is david kirkpatrick, New York Times International Correspondent. Thank you for joining us. I know it is a very late hour for you in england tonight. Its a pleasure to be here. Am i correct that your reporting indicates that joel zamels company drew up this proposal for a social media manipulation campaign but we dont know whether this proposal was ever actually picked up by the Trump Campaign, we dont know what happened to the proposed campaign . Correct. So i think youre overstating his lawyer denial, by the way. I dont think theres any dispute that he drew this proposal was drawn up, although there are some conflicting accounts of who commissioned it prior to the meeting. And at the meeting he spoke about what his company could do for the Trump Campaign. Now, maybe in his mind that wasnt a pitch. Certainly in the formal statement we got from donald trump jr. He understood it to be a pitch. So thats where thats left. And then as you mentioned, later on after the campaign is over during the transition george nader, the adviser to the United Arab Emirates who was present at that meeting turns around and pays joel zamel to put together or one of his companies, a Company Called white nights based in the philippines, to put together a presentation showing basically how effective it was. So maybe the proposal wasnt executed. But he, nader, appears to have paid zamel quite a bit of money, and one of the things he got for that money was a presentation that could have been shown to the Trump Campaign to demonstrate that this social Media Campaigning got them over the line. So its quite a murky picture. So we dont sorry to interrupt you for a second. We dont know that the social Media Campaign was actually enacted, but we do know that it was pitched and we do know that there was an effort after the election to brag about its effectiveness. It seems that way. The other thing thats interesting about this is the august 3rd meeting is sort of the beginning. Before then george nader didnt know the up from campaign and they didnt know george nader. But after that he begins to have a series of highlevel meetings with kushner, with bannon, with general flynn. So whatever happened in that campaign, maybe don jr. Said im not interested. But somehow that campaign was the genesis of a relationship between george nader, the adviser to the United Arab Emirates, and the Trump Campaign that went on through the transition and even into the period when trump was in the white house. One of the other things that strikes me about your reporting, david, is the described campaign, the social media manipulation campaign sounds very much like a description of what we in fact saw during the campaign thats been attributed among other places in the indictment of russian individuals and businesses that was unsealed by the special counsel in february. What zamel is reportedly pitching according to your reporting sounds a lot like what we believe the russian government did. Is that coincidental . Is there some overlap there we should understand . I think its close to coincidental. Im pretty sure this is a different operation. There may have been some coordination between the uae and russia. Thats certainly something muellers looking into. But i have to say, if you take a step back, if you are someone who wants to set out to influence an election outside the Campaign Finance structure, in this new world we now live in a way that thats quite easy to do and its social media. You can go on social media. Nobodys regulating that space. You can do all kinds of mischief. It can be totally anonymous. Basically, if youre a Foreign Government and wanted to try to influential an election, its the first place you would turn. So its not improbable that two different Foreign Governments might strike upon that scheme at the same time. David kirkpatrick, International Correspondent for the New York Times, up into the dead of night to join us live from overseas tonight. Thank you, mr. Kirkpatrick. Really appreciate it. Youre welcome. I will say, just also underscoring the drama of what kirkpatrick and his colleagues have just reported at the times, dont forget, george nader, who is like the key figure in all of this, is cooperating with the mueller investigation. He is one of the only people who is a witness to that investigation who we believe has been offered immunity in exchange for his cooperation with prosecutors. So if there is something here, muellers Team Absolutely positively has it in great detail. Much more ahead tonight. Stay with us. For adults with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer, previously treated with platinumbased chemotherapy, including those with an abnormal alk or egfr gene whove tried an fdaapproved targeted therapy, who wouldnt want a chance for another. . Whod say no to a. . 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And you can tell youre learning new things and crossing over into new intellectual territory when you find yourself learning to say things you really have never had to say before. I think this falls into the category of what we as prosecutors would analyze and ultimately conclude is awful but lawful. Awful but lawful. Awful but lawful. Needlepoint that onto a pillow for the 4th of july this year. Weve all had to learn about it. Awful but lawful. Tonight we have learned about something new in our politics that is definitely awful. But whether or not it is also illegal is a point of considerable and very interesting contention. And thats next. Stay with us. What is an act of mutuality . For a single mother, its preparing her daughters for the curveballs life throws. And its guarding a family weekend letting calls go to voicemail. Its planning so by the time this little guys ready for college, she will be too. And its sharing this retirement, with those who make life worth living. 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[ chuckles ] download the xfinity my account app and set a password you can easily remember. One more way comcast is working to fit into your life, not the other way around. When the president or his allies in the house start going out and trying to threaten that they want to reveal classified information. Youre talking devin nunes, chairman of the house Intelligence Committee. When they want to reveal classified information about the identity of an fbi or cia source, that is against the law. Senator mark warner, the top democrat on the house Intelligence Committee saying efforts by the president or his allies in congress to reveal a confidential fbi source in an Ongoing Investigation, hes suggesting that would not only be dangerous, it would be illegal. Republican supporters of the president in congress has been specifically demanding access to all documents at the Justice Department that relate to an fbi confidential source who made contact during the Trump Campaign with Trump Campaign advisers who the fbi believed had suspicious contacts with russia. What is reported to be that sources name, the name of the confidential source has surfaced in multiple news outlets. Today the president summoned the head of the fbi and the Deputy Attorney general in charge of the russia investigation to come meet with him at the white house, which is remarkable enough given that he is the subject of an Ongoing Investigation. After that meeting the white house released a statement saying it would quote immediate lysette up a meeting with the fbi, doj and dni together with congressional leaders to review highly classified and other information that they have requested. Handing over information on a confidential fbi source in the middle of an Ongoing Investigation because the president and the president s supporters want to undermine that investigation, the investigation to which that source has contributed, thats something. That is a break with all kinds of precedent. But given that this pressure on this confidential source has also now led to what is purportedly the revelation of the identity of this source in multiple news outlets, is there a real question as to whether or not this pressure on this confidential source and the revealing of his purported identity, is there a question as to whether that might be illegal. Congressman jim hooiimes is her. Thank you for being here. Thank you good to be here. Do you share the concern that the identity of the source might be a crime. Theres no question that giving up the name of the source, whether in the intelligence world or Law Enforcement world, if something is classified, putting that out there is absolutely illegal. The case most americans would remember where Scooter Libby was convicted of blowing the identity of a cia operative, convicted of that, sentence commuted and lo and behold, President Trump pardoned scooter for that. Maybe not for the president , the president is the declassifying authority. There is a much bigger thing at stake, which is as we speak, fbi are in places all over the country trying to persuade informants and others to trust them, to help them on a case, in places like rome and baghdad and moscow, cia officers are trying to convince people to help us, to hand over secrets, that does not happen if they cant look the sources in the eye and say come hell or high water well keep you safe now we have the president , devin nunes, and mark meadows say we need to know who this is. That is going to legal or illegal, badly damage this countrys National Security and its ability to prosecute crimes. We got a statement tonight from the white house, congressman, which the White House Communications director explained that the chief of staff, john kelly will convene a meeting with the director of the fbi, department of justice and dni, to review highly classified and other information they have requested. Do you know what that is about . And do you have any sense of how the Justice Department could handle this, in terms of the range of responsible versus reckless . Whats happening here is just look, its not a mystery. This has been going on for a year right now. This is driven by devin nunes and by a number of representatives of the Freedom Caucus and they are setting about to damage this investigation. Remember, they dont have to prove anything, and they havent proved a single thing weve been dealing with this for a year. The president , obama bugged trump tower, susan rice and Samantha Power were overexposing, unmasking peoples names. This is the latest spaghetti on the wall. The problem is this one is very, very serious because apparently, and you made this point, apparently we are introducing a new concept into american law, which is if you are the subject of or of interest in an investigation, you get to demand that the investigators tell you what they know. Obviously that only happens with donald trump because hes president of the United States but ever car thief out there, embezler, white colar criminal they can point to this and say i want to know what the prosecution has on me. Thats a terrible way to go in this country. It sounds like you fault the president and his supporters in congress for pushing to that point and you also fault the Justice Department for giving in . These guys have a theyre caught between a terrible rock and a hard place. On the one hand, the fact that they have entertained devin nunes and others who have demanded to see fisa warrant applications, this is brand new that theyre siccing the Inspector General on this crazy idea that there may have been a quote unquote spy in the Trump Campaign. Its wrong. On the other hand, if we dont give them something, the president , upon who all of these concepts, are completely lost, the president will wake up one morning and end this investigation. Now we have protests in the streets, we have a president whose very legitimacy is questioned. So my guess is theyre trying to give a little to calm the president without throwing it into the constitutional crisis that would ensue if the president ended the investigation. Congressman himes, thank you. Much appreciated. Thank you, rachel. Stay with us. Well be right back. [upbeat mu] now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller im gonna follow the sun now im gonna tell my momma that im a traveller transitions™ light under control™ yes. Its a targeted medicine proven to help prevent severe asthma attacks, and lower oral steroid use. About 50 of people with severe asthma have too many cells called eosinophils in their lungs. Fasenra™ is designed to work with the body to target and remove eosinophils. Fasenra™ is an addon injection for people 12 and up with severe eosinophilic asthma. Dont use fasenra™ for sudden breathing problems or other problems caused by eosinophils. Fasenra™ may cause headache, sore throat, and allergic reactions. Get help right away if you have swelling of your face, mouth, and tongue, or trouble breathing. Dont stop your asthma treatments unless your doctor tells you to. Tell your doctor if your asthma worsens or if you have a parasitic infection. Fasenra™ is a targeted treatment for eosinophilic asthma. Thats important. Ask an asthma specialist about fasenra™. Quick programming note. Tomorrow night right here live in stud owe, here for the interview will be james clapper, the director of National Intelligence during the obama administration. He served right up until Inauguration Day 2017 when trump was sworn in. He has a lot to say, and hes going to say it here tomorrow night in an extended interview. Im very much looking forward to it. Which means im nervous. See you again tomorrow. Now its time for the last word with Lawrence Odonnell good evening, lawrence. Good evening, rachel. Youll be great tomorrow night. Dont even think about it. I watched your opening tonight with and i you know, i had actually forgotten some of those horrifying moments in what is now the recent history of the Justice Department, the last year and a half of the Justice Department
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