paul, let me start with you. there are so many signals it appears to how seriously they re taking this. what do you make of the news reporting from nbc news they re interested in this statement? why does donald trump keep denying he had all of these dealings with the russians. he denied it with regard to business and politics. there s nothing illegal if you re a real estate developer trying to start a business some place. it sounds like consciousness of guilt to a prosecutor. sounds like he s trying to cover up. mueller may be like, i don t know what you re trying to cover it but it sure sounds like something. that statement again, the reporting indicated on the night back from his big trip to europe the president wrote the statement that don jr. gave, which again, to remind everyone, was basically false in what it communicated about the meeting. we talked about adoption. it wasn t a campaign issue.
that s right. and ask that he had a attorney general sessions. it wasn t a clear directive necessary or and there was no formal review that the justice department did. but trump did actually ask sessions whether it would be possible to drop that case altogether before the trial even began. he was told that would be inappropriate. but it represents a real sort of crossing of this this divide between the executive branch or rather between the white house and the justice department. that is not the typical behavior of a president interfering with a criminal case like that. phil rucker can be, kimberly thanks for the reporting tonight. coming up what does the latest show of aggression mean for the white house dealing with a huge cries at home. more on that when the 11th hour continues. how do you chase what you love with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis? do what i did. ask your doctor about humira. it s proven to help relieve pain and protect joints
the president wrote the statement that don jr. gave, which again, to remind everyone, was basically false in what it communicated about the meeting. we talked about adoption. it wasn t a campaign issue. it left all of that stuff out. what would be the legal i guess cans of the president intervening to create that false impression? it s not a crime to make a false statement to the public or the media of course. no. i ve learned that the hard way, barba barbara. what it shows is there is a willful intent by the president to mislead others what s going on in the russia investigation. not just what he did what was on his mind is an important part of robert mueller s task. here s my take away from the reporting. there s two channels here. like what is legally chargeable and what is a violation of the crime and what is weird and aberrant behavior.
you resigned obviously from the president s manufacturing council. the group was then disbanded because so many people are quitting. i wonder what you make of the fact that no one in the president s inner circle seem to take issue with his comments. or there have been leaks that they take issue but at this point, nobody has resigned. first of all, the council was sort of a joke. it was it never met. it didn t do anything. you never even met? it wasn t a vehicle to do real policy. there were never any meetings for it? no. there were never any meetings for it. he brought in some of the ceos but he never called a meeting or invited us to anything. but then, when you look at the symbolism of being associated with that council, was the second thing. and that s what i addressed by resigning. i looked at that and said his defense of groups that their whole purpose is racism and
shocked. then i actually thought i felt bad for him because he didn t he didn t understand. i felt bad for the country because our president really didn t understand how he s dividing our country. you resigned obviously from the president s manufacturing council. the group was then disbanded because so many people are quitting. i wonder what you make of the fact that no one in the president s inner circle seem to take issue with his comments. at this point nobody has resigned. first of all, the council was sort of a joke. it was it never met. it didn t do anything. you never even met? it wasn t a vehicle to do real policy. there were never any meetings for it? no. he brought in some of the ceos but he never called a meeting or invited us to anything.