Rachel Maddow takes a look at the days top political news stories. Whether a person is too close to the subject of the probe, whether Jeff Sessions would beak be more of a Trump Campaign surrogate who happened to be Attorney General rather than acting as an independent Law Enforcement officer. If sessions didnt recuse after that statement, it would have made him look even more like he was doing trumps bidding. And trump apparently didnt know that making that statement would also as just a general matter of embarrassment, make him look weak and out of the loop about a decision that was already done. Because there were reports that show the Internal Doj Process had already resulted in sessions accepting that nonpartisan Recusal Recommendation from the career staff earlier that week and that Jeff Sessions was already working with doj officials op writing the very rationale they would soon release to the public. In fact, it was barely an hour after trump put that public pressure on sessions to stay in charge of the probe to not recuse that Jeff Sessions stepped out to the world with a
fateful announcement that would actually change the arc of this entire probe. It would enrage trump, it would make Rod Rosenstein a new Household Name in every household that follows the news these days. And then what happened next is at issue and its in the news tonight. Donald trump responding with a mix of call it personal rage and a kind of management impotence by which i mean that he freaked out enough that a lot of people heard about it but did not follow through to actually do the firing of Jeff Sessions that he initially demanded in his initial freakout. So there were credible sources able to tell both the New York Times and the Washington Post that trump was fuming about Firing Sessions that he told his aides he wanted it done. Of course, we know he did not get it done. And thats not all. Donald trump was apparently unaware completely unaware of a pretty key rule in legal recusals. Im talking, of course, about no backies. The doj doesnt recommend a legal recusal for say some factual reason and then just take it back. Thats what the trump was demanding. He told sessions to take back the recusal from the russia probe in our time line, this was a few days later, march 4th and sessions goes down to maralago where the president objected to his decision to recuse himself. Mr. Trump it the times reported who had told aides he need Aid Loyalist Overseeing The Inquiry Berated Sessions and told him to reverse his decision, an inappropriate request. Sessions refused. Confrontation being investigated by bob mueller as are the president s private and public attacks on sessions and the efforts to get him to resign. So lets take this all together. There are many people im sure you know many people who say this. That donald trump is somehow ignorant or clueless hors doeuvre. You hear that from time to time. And donald trump may certainly be ignorant of all kinds of things, certainly the things he
doesnt care about. But the evidence in this mounting case shows that he is very informed and very canny about using a whole range of tactics to get what he wants in there criminal probe. Now, here is how that is key to where this probe is heading. Donald trump deploys both public and private means to do these things that look like Evidence Of Obstruction of justice and thats key to what is the disturbing news tonight. So lets go back into the timeline. Donald Trump Presses sessions and ha became part of muellers probe itself because had he an interest which demonstrates sessions overlooked role as a key witness into the investigation into whether trump tried to obstruct the inquiry. Muellers investigators pressed current and former white house officials about trumps treatment of sessions and whether they believe the president was trying to impede the investigation by pressuring him. The Attorney General beintervied
at length. Of the questions mueller wants to ask trump, eight reit to sessions among them what efforts did you make him to try to get him to reverse his recusal thats the context for what trump did today. While we dont usually treat trumps tweets as news stories because theyre often ploys and some are just lies there one is important. This is a terrible situation and Attorney GeneralJeff Sessions should stop this rigged witch hunt right now before it continues to stain our country any further. Muellers totally conflicted. His 17 angry democrats that are doing his dirty work are a disgrace to the usa. What are we looking at there . Were seeing the public part. What else is trump doing to shut down the probe in private tonight . Thats a big question. You can also see how this is Evidence Of Obstruction that concerns even trumps own lawyers because their argument
today was hey, no, trump did not say what he said, that his call to stop the probe was not really a call to stop the probe, not an order. Muellers investigators may disagree with that. They are probing how the president talks to and pressures the doj. One democrat a former prosecutor, spoke to how this all fits into criminal intent. Clearly there statement is serious and substantial evidence of criminal intent. Even if it doesnt constitute a crime itself. The president is coming close to actual committing the crime of Obstruction Of Justice if not crossing that line already. And these tweets adding to each other amount to evidence of criminal intent. There is now right now a clearly credible case of obstruction of
justice against the president of the United States. So why is this happening now . Well, theres a new report that suggests its not just the Manafort Trial which shows what happens to the defendants who Dont Cooperate With Mueller but also that trump learned within the last day the Special Counsel will limit the scope of questioning and would like to ask questions both orally and written for the president to respond to. In other words, there is still serious pressure for an interview. According to news sources familiar with the president s actions wednesday, that was the genesis for his Early Morning tweet storm. Rachel pinpointed a lot of important issues today require to us focus on what people do. Not just what they say. The question that could determine the future of the Trump Presidency tonight involves whether trump is trying to do something with what hes saying to his Attorney General and to the other doj and fbi officials that hes well hes attacked, berated, undercut and, of course, who hes tried to remove from office. Remember, this is the still the only american presidency to ever
successfully seek the removal of the top two officials at the fbi. Theyre now both potential witnesses to obstruction. Its the only presidency inivity under investigation for the unsuccessful efforts to remove both an Attorney General and a Special Prosecutor himself as the probe remains open. And that, of course, is just what we know based on whats in public and what is leaked. So one more thing as you take it all together. There is another reason why donald trump may be writing things about sessions that look selfincriminating 0 twitter that have his own lawyers saying they werent what they are. This theory requires to you entertain the belief that the president is more canny than clueless. Donald trumps team has good reason to have learned by now that muellers case uses Donald Trumps past efforts to squeeze and oust Jeff Sessions. Muellers case may have already strong evidence of that. Provable evidence. And so knowing that it looks
moved that far but he certainly made the effort to appear he was reducing some of the questions. Do you have any hints over whether he is prepared to go to the Supreme Court if trump wont sit down and how do you trigger that . When do you do that . So if one signal we know very clearly that mueller has given the Trump Legal Team is he would like to avoid a subpoena fight. And there are all sorts of good reasons for that, ari, like he knows that that will take months. Theres very little chance that the court of appeals which would certainly be involved on the road to the Supreme Court would move with any alacrity. This could takes months to fight over an interview and a constitutional question thats never been answered, can you force the president to the table to talk about acts as president. And if theres one thing we
know, as well, mueller has gathered a lot of evidence. Hes interviewed a ton of people. Hes pressaged in his questions that hes hinted at to the Trump Legal Team what hes interested in. And obstruction is a central piece of what he wants to get from the president. You say obstruction and that brings us to the most damning and perhaps the most obvious question that im sure many of us watching would like your view on. Why do you think donald trump wrote something today on the internet that was so blatantly selfincriminating about Potential Obstruction of this case which is an investigation into his obstruction . So two things. I agree with all the prosecutors that ive spent a lot of time with as a reporter in federal courts all over. I agree with them that any statement you make that suggests that youre threatening or intimidating or encouraging a
certain course of action is not a crime but certainly goes to your State Of Mind. And could be part of a mosaicing that any prosecutor could lay out orging look, the president was really sig that willing to Tens Of Millionses of people this is what he wanted. And that is not a crime but it builds the color around the State Of Mind of the actor, the president. The second thing is your question about why did he tweet. The president has shown a talent for sending a message early in the morning either about his anger or about the topic he wants all of us to be talking about. And in this instance, i believe hes been watching a lot of coverage of Paul Manaforts trial. Obviously, were mot live inside that trial but hes watching the cable news, minute by minute updates. And he wants to send a signal about how he feels this is wrong. And it could be just a signal to his base. And nothing more. Well, you said it was a mosaic of sorts. I wonder whether its a selfportrait titled Evidence Of Obstruction, given how drastically blatant it was. Carol, we always appreciating your reporting and nuance. Thank you so much. I turn to senator chris coons on the Senate Judiciary committee and rebutting giulianis assertion that have collusion is not a crime. He re he i want to start with your view of whether what donald trump wrote on the internet today is evidence of Potential Obstruction. Well, its certainly evidence of his State Of Mind how he views the ongoing Mueller Investigation and of what he thinks should happen. His saying this morning that Jeff Sessions should shut down the Mueller Investigation which he calls a rigged witch hunt as
a number of commentators have said so far this evening could be entered into evidence as something that suggests what his State Of Mind has been. Ill remind you this goes all the way back to his lester holt interview following his firing of fbi director james comey. Whether he said that he had the russia investigation in mind when he fired jim comey, the former fbi director. So i think theres abundant evidence that obstruction and intent to interfere the Ongoing Investigation into whether or not rush yar committed some conspiracy with Trump Campaign in order to violate our federal election laws. Thats something thats been out there in plain view now for months. Frankly, my answer as to why President Trump did in this morning is a combination of appealing to his base, delegitimizing the Mueller Investigation and he frankly partly just cant help himself. Right, because as weve reported his lawyers reaction shows that this was coming from the top and that they wanted to
say it didnt do what it did. Getting to your other piece, you know, sometimes it feels like were all going through a type of law School Together in this era. You would be one of our voluntary professors i suppose. Collusion, conspiracy, criminal hacking and theft, fraud fraud against the units, Foreign Campaign contributions are all felonies that relate to what has been alleged in 2016. Walk us through your point about what trims constitute collusion. Well, first the term collusion here is being used casually. What its really referring to ill remind you is a conspiracy to break federal election laws. The federal election law and i think it is title 52 of the u. S. Code, section 30121 says that it is a crime to solicit or accept a thing of value from a Foreign National in order to influence a federal election. Im summarizing what is a much
longer paragraph. But essentially, thats what it says is that a Foreign National cant contribute either money or a thing of value and an american cant solicit or receive a thing of value from a Foreign National in connection with a federal election. Thats really the crux of whats being investigated here is whether or not the russian well documented wide scale russian effort by dozens of military Intelligence Officers tore influence the American Election and to be offer hacked emails was in some way either solicited or accepted by the Trump Campaign team. Thats why i think the developments in recent days that Michael Cohen may well be willing to testify that President Trump knew about the June 9th Trump Tower meeting with russians offering dirt on Hillary Clinton could be a key Turning Point here. Theres lots of public evidence of an enthusiasm by the highest levels of the Trump Campaign to
accept information derogatory to Hillary Clinton and his campaign. Theres lots of evidence that Robert Muellers investigation has made public through indictments of russian efforts to influence the outcome of the campaign. Whats been missing so far is something that connects point a to point b and makes it into a conspiracy. That may well it be the evidence that Robert Mueller is preparing to present. Im remind you lying to federal investigators is also a federal offense and sometimes things that are said on twitter whether its by donald trump jr. Or Paul Manafort or others, what really ends up being the thing that hangs them up is having testified in front of a committee or to an fbi investigator one way and it being proven that the facts are the opposite. I think those are the three core issues here. Finally federal election law working in partnership to break the american laws which is conspiracy and lying to investigators most of the indictments that have so far come out from the mueller
investigation move along one of those three tracks. I expect well be seeing more indictments in in the near future. To paraphrase it, sounds like they were right to say collusion is not a crime because it is like four crimes. Thats right. What we are commonly referring to as collusion is a complex series of Violation Afsz federal election law, of truthfulness to investigators and the commonly known crime of conspiracy which is i think 18usc371. Thats just working with more than one other foreign break federal law. Thats simple conspiracy. Senator chris coons, a member of the Senate Judiciary committee, i really do appreciate your time tonight. Thank you, ari. Still ahead there could be a Big Development in Paul Manaforts trial. We have that former federal prosecutor who was in the courtroom today in just a moment. I love you, basement guest bathroom. Your privacy makes you my number 1 place to go number 2. I love you, but sometimes you stink. Febreze air effects doesnt just mask, it cleans away odors. Because the things you love the most can stink. And try Febreze Small Spaces to clean away odors for up to 30 days. Breathe happy with febreze. Bundle and save big, but now its time to find my dream abode. Right away, i could tell his priorities were a little unorthodox. Keep going. Stop. A little bit down. Stop. Back up again. Is this adequate sunlight for a Komodo Dragon . Yeah. Sure, i want that discount on Car Insurance just for owning a home, but im not compromising. Youre taking a shower . Water pressures crucial, scott
its like they say location, location, koi pond. They dont say that. With our largest variety of crab all year like new crabfest combo. Your one chance to have new Jumbo Snow Crab with tender dungeness crab. Or try crab lovers dream. But hurry in. Cause Crabfest will be gone in a snap. Are you ready to take your then you need xfinity xfi. . A more powerful way to stay connected. It gives you super fast speeds for all your devices, provides the most Wifi Coverage for your home, and lets you control your network with the xfi app. Its the ultimate wifi experience. Xfinity xfi, simple, easy, awesome. Now, to the trial. Muellers prosecutors moving fast in day two of Paul Manaforts trial which is whats generally required in this rocket docket. In fact, the prosecutors say theyre way ahead of schedule on this trial and could rest their case as early as next week. Many witnesses may be afraid of muellers team but the judge there t. S. Ellis is not. Of course, hes not supposed to be. Seconds after prosecutor an season yea starred delivering his opening statement, the judge
cut him off. The prosecutor saying a man in the court did not believe the law did not apply to him and collected over 60 million for his work in a country called ukraine but this man didnt want to report his income so he used Foreign Bank Accounts to funnel and boom, the judge interrupted the evidence you contend will show this . The Prosecutor Says yes. And judge ellis does a little smackdown. Thats the way i would put it. And the prosecutor tried to continue saying to funnel millions of dollars and judge ellis collapsed back and says, did you hear what i said . Then we get a more typical response. The Prosecutor Says yes, your honor. The judge says all right, do it that way please. Ellis pressed both sides. He is a known stickler and told manaforts lawyers they also must speaking in evidence telling them its preferable if you couch in this case your argument or your defense in terms of you will hear evidence
that dot, dot, dot. Now right out of the gate that has been the issue. Today the judge didnt mellow out at one point scolding the prosecutors and defense team to rein in their facial expressions. Its been reported that lawyers upon leaving the bench roll their eyes communicating to those watching them essentially why do we have to put up with this idiot judge. Dont do that. Obviously, if i were to see it, i might be a little upset. You can see that running a courtroom sometimes is no different than dealing with well, your average teenager at least in the view of this judge on the record. Put aside the facial expressions and Whats Going On is the judge is trying to trim the sails of aggressive lawyers and that includes mule hes aggressive prosecutors. He took issue with the word oligarch, arguing it is just despot tick power exercised by a privileged few and by that definition, principles of high schools are oligarchs, too. What he was getting at what i want to avoid somehow to use the term oligarch to Mean Manafort was being paid by people who are criminals. The only thing we know about them is if they had a lot of money. It has come to have a pejorative meaning. He told them look, find another term to use. Almost immediately, not being able to say the word oligarch, thats kind of like a banana peel for the prosecution and ill read from what were learning from this trial. The payments were made on behalf of mr. Ian cuevich i would say oligarchs the prosecutor said but by wealthy businessman. The judge said who paid. The prosecutor said those are the oligarchs. The judge said those are the individuals who financed it. Dont use that term. Now we go back to what good lawyers do. They said understood. There was also a matter of
whether the prosecutors can use photographs of expensive suits as evidence. There were brand names that were greek to this judge. The judge said if it doesnt say mens wearhouse, i dont know it. That got something of a laugh. Then what happened did not. Were showing you this because it matters legally. Judge ellis hinting these pictures of manaforts very fancy suits may never get to the jury. The Big Curveball came when he starred questioning other evidence that pertained to rick gates. Thats manaforts former deputy who mueller got to cooperate. Gates testimony has the potential to be the most riveting pivotal portion of this trial. Maybe of the Whole Mueller Prosecution up to point. Were talking about the Deputy Campaign manager for donald trump who flipped. But look at this. Judge ellis says youre going to offer up mr. Gates, arent you . And muellers Prosecutor Says your honor, were not sure if we are. He may testify in this case, your honor. He may not. That is one of those things that sounds very measured. We may do this, we may not but actually has really big repercussions what well hearn from there case. Whied the prosecution be considering not putting what is described astaire witness on the stand. Im joined by Barbara Mcquade at the trial today and Josh Gerstein reporting as politicos correspondent and covering the manafort case since the we beginning. Barbara, i will you the that question to you. Yeah about, Whether Gates will testify . Interesting moment in the trial. And there was sort of a sudden hush in the courtroom. And then a sudden scurrying when a number of people ran out the back. In fact, judge ellis himself said thats a surprise to me. And apparently to about 25 other people in the courtroom who just ran out of here like ras fleeing a singing ship. Presumably reporters who were
going to report back there statement. And if you think about it, it may very well be that they decide not to call rick gates. In my view, the case is. Coming in very well. Theyve gotten in lots of documents. This is primarily a paper case which if youre a prosecutor is a dream because paper doesnt lie. Paper doesnt forget. Paper doesnt admit to biases and so if you can problem your case with paper, you may not need a live wit fles who can go sideways in a lot of ways. It sounds like theyre playing it by ear but may well end up not causing rick gates because they dont need to and he prens potential ricks. Good Trial Litigators have no attachment to anything thats come before. They just want to make the case to win. Is there something going on some of the undercutting by the Defense Counsel was effective enough they want to keep this option open. Yeah, i think so. There were noncommittal today and dont need to be. When you put a name on your list it, is who you may call. But you dont have to call all of them. When you do call a witness, youre required to turn over all of their prior statements on the Subject Matter and required to turn over anything that could be used to attack their credibility like the plea deal, like anything bad that he has admitted to, any staps hes made about the russia matter. It may be that prosecutors would rather hold that information close to the vest for now and save him as a witness in the washington, d. C. Trial thats going to occur in september. They can get through this one on paper and save him, think theyll view that as a good thing. They can make that call next week when they see how the case has come in and decide if they need to call him at all. Josh, walk us through the color from taking just a few quotes. Did you ever see eye rolling and how pivotal is this judge . I think some of the Eye Rolling May have come during the jury Selection Process when we had very long sidebars. The judge does seem to really be riding the prosecution. Now, there wouldnt be any reason for him to be riding the defense because the defense at the moment is putting in a few crossexamination questions at the end of each witness called by the prosecution. So its really the prosecutions ball on their side of the field at this point. Been the judge is beak limiting the amount of evidence that i think the defense might view as prejudicial. As you mentioned, the issues of the photos or the photos of the ostrich jacket, photos of Home Renovations that were very expensive, photos of all the suits of all the other luxury goods that manafort used pone to buy money that the prosecution says came from his work in ukraine, but the judge is trying to keep this really to facts and figures to the invoices to the paper. Let me draw you out on that. Do you think this is fair in the criticism of the mueller team is
theyre trying to make Paul Manafort out like hes Sean Diddy Coves and had fancy coats and fancy brands and that legally, theres not the problem. Its kind of unfair and what they really have to problem is that there was tax evasion. Do you think the judge is hitting that right and fairly . I think he is. He does bring it up a lot. Id say roughly every hour or two, he makes a comment about manafort is not on trial for being rich or for having a lavish lifestyle or extravagant tastes and the prosecutors will often agree with the judge but they insys they need to show the value of these luxury goods and that manafort was getting them to really convince jurors that manaforts tax returns could not possibly have covered the lifestyle that he was living in addition to trying to prove his point of the very, very strange payment arrangements, nearly every vendor who came up said they were paid by Overseas Wire transfers from Shell Companies whose names they had never heard
of or only got from the manafort. Today we had a Strange Development of forged invoices a couple of vendors saying that they were being shown invoices with their companys name at the top of the letterhead but that they were not authentic. It appears somebody fortunatelied those as part of the process of getting these bills paid by Shell Companies can overseas. It sounds exhausting to be that shady all the time. But we dont always relate toe what defendants are accused of, innocent till proven guilty, of course. Former u. S. Attorney Barbara Mcquade and politicos Josh Gerstein. We have one more note. Manafort has those expensive tastes and that includes were going to show you a 15,000 ostrich coat. Josh just mentioned it. We want you to see it because youre not a juror. You have every right to the information out there. Here is we submit to you the ostrich coat in question and we submit it to you without comment. Well be right back. Always have been. When i found out i had agerelated macular degeneration, amd, i wanted to fight back. My doctor and i came up with a plan. It includes preservision. Only Preservision Areds 2 has the exact nutrient formula recommended by the National Eye Institute to help reduce the risk of progression of moderate to advanced amd. Thats why i fight. Because its my vision. Preservision. Also, in a greattasting chewable. The world is full of different hair. Thats why pantene has the perfect conditioners for everyone. From airlight foam, to nourishing 3 minute miracle, to the moistureinfusing gold series. We give more women great hair days every day. Pantene. At the Marine Mammal center, the environment is everything. We want to do our very best for each and every animal, and we want to operate a sustainable facility. And pg e has been a partner helping us to achieve that. Weve helped the Marine Mammal center go solar, install electric vehicle charging stations, and become more energy efficient. Pg e has allowed us to be the most Sustainable Organization we can be. Any time you help a customer, its a really good feeling. Its especially so when its a customer thats doing such good and important work for the environment. Together, were building a better california. So check this out. The scene outside republican senators john thunes office today. This is the Dirksen SenateOffice Building right ahead of the senators scheduled meeting with trumps new Supreme Court pick bret kavanaugh. Nbc counted about 200 demonstrators lining the halls. They stood mostly in silent protest. With the protest under way, senator thunes meeting was moved in fact this happened the last minute. They brought him over to Mitch Mcconnells office suite in the capitol. The public not permitted so protest serious couldnt get as close. When they got word the meeting was moved, they marched on the hart Office Building where he was scheduled to meet with the john boozman. Protesters singing songs, they were blocking the halls and some chanted oh, hell no, kavanaugh. Dozens of them were then arrested for that conduct. According to capitol police, 74 people arrested and charged. The counts around crowding or obstructing because you cant interfere with the gathering places there. When Disability RightsActivist Aidy Barkin was wheeled into a Police Holding area he was cheered by. Protesters. The battle is still in the early stages, Democratic Senators saying they not meet with kavanaugh. They want more facts from his time serving as bushs Staff Secretary in the white house. Meanwhile, republican Chuck Grassley who leads the judiciary
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back pain cant win. Transitions™ now introducing aleve back and muscle pain. Only aleve targets tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Aleve back muscle. All day strong. All day long. It was big news when the Washington Post and the times reported last summer that the middle of the 2016 campaign, the trump org was actively secretly trying to bid the trump tower in moscow. As we know, Candidate Trump was signing documents about that deal during the campaign at the very time he was publicly insisting he had no business des with russia. This may, buzzfeeds Anthony Cormier and Jamp Lee Poed advanced the story with another scoop that the negotiations for trump tower moscow were far more extensive and lasted longer than reported and the planning went on after trump became the nominee and that the negotiations conducted by Michael Cohen included plans for
trump to make a midcampaign trip to moscow also known as a great idea. The buzzfeed report includes another bombshell on the subject that relates to collusion. Even before mueller was appointed Special Counsel, fbi agencies learned that cohen was in frequent contact with foreign individuals about trump moscow and that some of those individuals had knowledge of or played a role in 2016 election meddling. That would be like a big headline all on its own if we didnt have so many other things happening. Its one exhibit in the collusion issues around trump. Now, Buzzfeeds Cormier and leopold this team is back with a new scoop. This one is about the accused Spy Maria Butina currently in jail accused of acting as a russian agent. Prosecutors accuse her of waging a covert operation of influence targeting the nra and other conservatives and allege she was aided by u. S. Persons one and two. First one matches political operative Paul Erickson who also
had a relationship with her, the second one i. D. And giorgio neil junior, a rockefeller heir, a conservative writer and he worked on the pat buchanan campaign in 92 with erickson. The details are piling up about her alleged influence campaign in the u. S. Financed by a russian billionaire with deep ties to the russian president ial administration. To use a word you cant use in the Manafort Trial, that oligarch had a son who worked as a volunteer on trumps campaign. Now sources are saying butina first told the senate about this Funding Source in her interview there. Today the Senate Unanimously approved turning over that transcript what she told them and the details about the billionaire to prosecutors, as well butinas defense lawyer. Buzzfeed reports federal investigators hot on the trail and reporting that the investigators are looking at 300,000 in these transactions by Butina And Erickson which includes 90,000 sent to or from
a russian bank. The transactions were actually first flagged by antifraud investigations at wells fargo who in some cases found no an apparent Economic Business or lawful purpose to explain them. Those records also now handed over to the fbi. Joining me now is one of those authorize of those scoops, buzzfeed reporter Anthony Cormier. I guess i should start with wow. Thanks. Theres a lot here. A whole bunch going on. 300,000, what does it mean . We know now this massive Counter Intelligence investigation is doing what all investigators do, following the money. They want to know who was supporting her in the u. S. And what she was doing with the funds while she was here and whether or not anyone else was involved with this sort of what they are alleging is a grand conspiracy to influence political figures in the u. S. On russias behalf. Right. When you say anyone else involved, its oh, are she and torsion linked to putin some
sort of tiny lone would he have sleeper cell or are there other dogs on this russian dog sledding team. Both russian and american i think. Telling us they want to know to whom torsion was funneling money, whether those are russian individuals and were torshin was sending pone to anyone in the u. S. Thats not been proven. We can say thats what the fbi is sniffing around at. Youre familiar with the term what happens in las vegas stays in las vegas. What happens online has not stayed online in this case. The Midterm Campaign hacking were hearing about involves offline events, the digital operations mueller charged involve a lot of offline problems. How much of this looks to you like bigger Offline Physical activity inside the United States and how does mueller view that even if this predates his mandate. I wont speak for mr. Mueller. But i will say that our sources in the fbi tell us that that money has to go somewhere. Right . These are this is cash. It moves. They want to know where it went. Its going to be difficult when you deposit cash on the front end, its hard to know where it came from, when you pull it out, its difficult to know where it went. Theyre the fbi and this is a massive sweeping Counter Intelligence investigation. Our sources are telling us they are firmly going to get to the bottom of it. Torshin being so hands on as a Putin Billionaire means what . You can make a bee line to the kremlin if stands up, if the butina charges stick. If they find out where the money came from and where it went, it will be very difficult for kremlin to say we had no idea. Final question. A lot of the discussion about regulating finance and banks in america. Is this story which you report begins with Bank Regulations and laws forcing oversight a sign thats an important part of overseeing banks . Absolutely. We jason and my partner and i have been reporting on this sort of money and steen again and again whether its citi in the
past, wells fargo. They are critical vectors, points where fbi is able to go and pull records. As we saw earlier in the show today, paper doesnt lie. The fbi is using paper to make these cases. Its fascinating and as weve shown in our introduction, youve been doing a lot of reporting. Thank you so much Anthony Cormier. Democrats say they got good news. 97 days out of the midterms. Thats next. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens 97 days out of the midterms. Thats next. And warm woolen mittens brown paper packages tied up with strings these are a few of My Favorite Things these are a few of My Favorite Things gives skin the moisture it needs and keeps it there longer with lockin moisture technology
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