that is traditionally child neglect. but now you have a law enforcement person who was supposed to guard the school being charged with child neglect. and by the way, in looking at the statute, technically there probably is a violation because he was if a caregiver position of responsibility, that is item number one proven and as a result of negligence or neglect, children were harmed. we know that happens to be true. so even though i ve never seen charges like this brought against a police official, there may be an argument that it fits the statute and he faces an enormous exposure. i think it is somewhere like 90 years in prison 96 1/2. in prison if he were convicted and got the maximum on all charges. so the florida authorities so it has been 14 months since they started investigating, talked to 184 witnesses and reviewed hours of video
although congress has the contempt power to enforce its subpoenas they never use it. that usually falls on the executive branch to enforce contempt with regard to federal subpoenas. if michael cohen decided to say i m not showing up and maybe even i m concerned enough about my family that i won t show up even with a subpoena, the real body who would be likely to enforce that is the executive branch. and our president donald trump heads the executive branch. that s an interesting loop of legality. another interesting aspect of our commander-in-chief and president he s been tweeting at michael cohen, he s also been calling him names, some have interpreted that to be intimidation. he s gone after the father-in-law. does that amount to witness tampering given the fact he s cancelled one appearance before congress and now being subpoenaed to appear once again. when it comes to witness
tampering and obstruction of justice like this, words and context are everything. we have to look closely at what was said and what was the meaning behind it. in a case like this, in any criminal case it is standard practice for a criminal defense attorney, for example, to stand up in court or to the press and say this witness, this cooperator is a liar, he s singing for his supper, he s here because he s a criminal and negotiating the best deal for himself and his family. that is standard practice in any criminal case involving a cooperator. on the other hand, when the president is making those statements as the head of the department of justice, as the chief law enforcement person in the united states, they take on a different context. and, merely calling cohen a liar is probably not criminal. once you start getting into the area of referencing family members depending on the context watch out for the father-in-law.
it makes no since he s using the excuse he s been threatened. cohen s legal adviser weighed in on some of president trump s comments about cohen. when the top law enforcement person in the country, the president of the united states, amazing i m about to stha, calls somebody who tells the truth a rat and then praises people who are refusing to tell the truth, then you re sending a signal of lawlessness by the highest office in our country. so, mr. cohen is concerned that when you re labelled a rat, and you re in a federal prison, there could be some danger from other people. all right. joining us here on set msnbc legal analyst danny sevalis. what do you make of the subpoena? it creates an interesting legal situation.
not cross, attacking family is not fair game. when congress acts and helps mr. cohen by at least taking action and sending that message to mr. trump, maybe things will calm down. but this was a decision that his family wanted mr. cohen to make and he respected the family s concerns that they expressed fears for their safety. is he afraid for himself? the president is not only the head of the justice department, he s in charge of the bureau of prisons. is he afraid for what s going to potentially happen to him once he goes to jail in march? first of all, when the top law enforcement person in the country, the president of the united states, it s amazing i m about to say this, calls somebody who tells the truth a rat, and then praises people who are refusing to tell the truth, then you re sending a signal of lawlessness by the highest office in our country. so mr. cohen is concerned that when you re labeled a rat, and