Assertion it was not up to him to decide if President Trump obstructed justice because of a longstanding policy against indicting a sitting president. We saw the special counsel yesterday make that statement. He analyzed 11 instances where there were possible obstruction. And then said that he really couldnt make a decision. Do you agree with that interpretation . I personally felt he could have reached a decision. In your view, he could have reached a conclusion. Right. He could have reached a conclusion. The opinion said you cant indict a president while hes in office. But he could have reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity. But he had his reasons for not doing it. Which he explained. And im not going to argue about those reasons. But when he didnt make a decision, the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein and i felt it was necessary for us as the heads of the department to reach that decision. Well, he seemed to suggest yesterday that there was another venue for
Proceedings to begin. As of this morning are you . Look, id like to think i was a voice in the wilderness here at the length of this investigation and ive been part of it for the last three years, but clearly the needle is moving for many members and candidates for president of the United States. The continued obstruction by the president , less than subtle message from mr. Mueller yesterday, the weaponization of the Intelligence Community to go after the president s political enemies. You know, its my intention to talk to my colleagues the next day or so and make an announcement this weekend on what my intentions are. Are you shifting . Obviously the needle is moving. It was never a question of whether or not this president was fit for office. He is not. It was never a question whether or not the president abused his powers. He has. It is a question as the speaker of the house has pointed out, what is the most speculative way to deal with this constitutional crisis. We have seen in th
But it is still not normal. And it is still deserving to be called out. So lets get started. Out of the gate, the president this morning was asked about bob muellers statement yesterday and he attacked the special counsel and is still claiming he has been exonerated. Well, i think it was the same as the report. It wasnt much changed. It was, to me, the same as the report. And theres no obstruction. You see what were saying. Theres no obstruction, no collusion, no nothing. Nothing but a witch hunt. A witch hunt by the media and the democrats, theyre partners. And it keeps going. I thought it was finished when the report was released. But it goes on. And to me, it was the same, frankly, as the report, and he said basically it was the same as the report. Okay. So joining me now, elie honig, cnn legal analyst and former federal prosculatkurlecutor and avlon and evan perez. Let us start with this one, what we heard. No obstruction. No obstruction, there is nothing. This is not what bob muel
Reached a conclusion. He should have reached a conclusion. The opinion says you cannot indict a president while in office. But he could have reached a decision as to whether it was criminal activity. But he had his reasons for not doing it. By saying mueller could have reached a decision on criminal activity barr is misleading. He is leading people to believe that if mueller had found criminal activity he would have said so. But theres explicitly not the case. We no he why mueller didnt directly accused trump of criminal activity. It would be unfair to potentially accuse somebody of a crime when there can be no Court Resolution of the actual charge. Mueller didnt lay out crimes because he couldnt charge trump as a sitting president with crimes. Right . Thats the whole olc opinion. What mueller did say though was damning enough. If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a cranium, we would have said so. Mueller wanted the world to know that if he could have exon
Nbc news and msnbc contributor and coauthor of the fourth coming book songs of america. John, we were just talking about your book with tim mcgraw that also comes with a world tour where you will be singing backup for tim mcgraw. We are excited to to see you across the country, jon. You should see me with a tambourine with the Brooks Brothers suit. Its a fantastic combination. Its unique. There actually is a tour you can find out about. Lets get to the big show ahead including an exclusive interview here this morning with Andrew Mccabe the former acting fbi director who the president access of treason. Plus former acting solicitor general kneel katyal who literally wrote the rules for the special counsel. We will talk to Steve Bullock of montana and rob reiner with a first look at his new project on the russia probe. Lets hear more now from the special Counsel Robert Mueller who yesterday stepped away from what appears to be his final job in law enforcement, ending a long career in Pub