both sides of this street in a very disingenuous way. so even if the president did call whitaker and talked about the cohen case, if no action was actually taken by whitaker, is there any issue in terms of legality of it. there is very definitely an issue. if the president called the acting attorney general of the united states about an ongoing investigation of him in the southern district of new york, where he was named as a an unindicted co-conspirator, any conversation would be wildly improper. and evidence of potential obstruction of justice. even if nothing came of it in terms of whitaker acting. clearly the president s intent in calling whitaker was to influence the outcome. clearly that kind of attempt, whether it produced action on whitaker s part was improper,
facts in the next 24 hours. the only way to really obtain them is to have whitaker back and chairman nadler has been pursuing meticulously an investigation that has historic consequences. the president s potential conversations with whitaker indicate that he s treating the department of justice like his own personal attorneys. and the american public has a right to wonder why is whitaker so vague and disingenuous if there is nothing to hide. senator blumenthal. i appreciate it, thank you very much. thank you. joining us now is neal cad ill who was solicitor general during the obama administration and cnn chief analyst jeffy toobin and usa today columnist kirsten powers. and now a nondenial is not the same thing as a confirmation?
they re going too far in the southern district but nothing came of it, as in no action took place, does that then besides perhaps being inappropriate, does that is that illegal? yes. still devastating for the president both criminally and as a matter of politically. so it would be one thing anderson if the president were having that conversation with you and going in and criticizing criticizing the southern district investigation and the like. but here he s doing it to his hand-picked lackey, this guy matthew whitaker who is the most unqualified person to ever serve as attorney general in the history of the united states, who was put in there for one reason, one qualification, is he s gone on your network and dised the mueller probe and so it is pretty obvious what is going on at this point. this isn t vepting to you and the criminal intent there could very well be met because it
discussing either of those things especially with a man at least nominally in charge of them raises questions about whether the president was trying to gabe influence unlawfully. last month whitaker refused to discuss what the president said to him but he did address one very specific question. did the president lash out at you after michael cohen s guilty plea for lying to congress about a trump organization project to build a tower in moscow? the president specifically tweeted that he had not lashed out. i m asking you, mr. whitaker, did the president lash out at you. i m not asking what he treated. i don t have confidence in the veracity of the tweet. congressman, that is based on unsub sh unsubstantiated. yes or no. did he lash out to you about the guilty plea. no, he did not. but president trump did not lash out at him but the real
controlling the department of justice regarding investigations of himself is both historically and legally very important. neal, if this conversation did happen, and it was just a conversation and it was the president venting or saying gosh, i think what is happening to michael cohen is i think they re going too far in the southern district but nothing came of it, as in no action took place, does that then, besides perhaps being inappropriate, does that is that illegal? yes. still devastating for the president both criminally and as a matter of politically. so it would be one thing anderson if the president were having that conversation with you and going in and criticizing criticizing the southern district investigation and the like. but here he s doing it to his hand-picked lackey, this guy matthew whitaker who is the most unqualified person to ever serve as attorney general in the history of the united states,