Not russia, though russia looms large in the background as it seems to in Everything Else these days. Manaforts being tried in Federal Court in alexandria, virginia. He was, of course, Trumps Campaign chairman, ran the rnc convention. Its the first of two trials for him, and this one hes looking at 18 counts of bank fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy charges in relation to his work for a prorussian party in ukraine before he went to work for the trump campaign. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. This trial is off to a lightning start. So far a jury has been seated. Opening statements have been delivered, and a witness has testified, all on day one. Manafort was a March To August Chairman back in 2016. He helped trump secure the nomination, make no mistake, and trump said so at the time. I have fantastic people. Paul manafort just came on. Hes great. He didnt need to do this, but he wanted to. Paul manafort has done an amazing job. He is here some place where. Is paul . However, more
Brian Williams examines the days top political stories and current politicalcampaign news. And Donald Trumps name wasnt mentioned today. Robert muellers name wasnt mentioned today. This trial does not have to do with any connection to the 2016 campaign. Nor does rick gates involvement dovetail with what he did in the 2016 campaign, nor his work on the inaugural committee. Its a highly separate trial involving past clients of Paul Manaforts. I think if were reading between the lines, its the prelude to something that is supposed to be bigger. Obviously the prosecutors have a case that theyre bringing here, but it does seem like theyre looking down the road to try to get or compel Paul Manafort to participate in the larger mission, which is the investigation to collusion in the trump campaign. And were all sort of waiting to see what manafort does under this type of pressure. I do agree that the case the defense he is bringing seems highly uncompelling. Basically, he is saying my underli
The days biggest political and news stories, with interviews and reporting from around the nation. Disclosure statements, have hearings into the trump russia probe, strengthen the Mueller Probe as opposed to allowing trump to shut it down. Stephanie, if you want to party like its 1999 for a second, lets talk dvd evidence, not the usual format everyones familiar with. But Michael Avenatti made a lot of noise about this. They tried to get more details from him on the view. He did something that viewers will recognize, random flattery. Take a look at avenatti on the view. Do they have anything to do with the dvd . Do they have anything to do with the dvd . Thats a really good question. Youre a good questioner. As your attorney, you dont have to answer that. Yeah, im going to take a pass on that one. Going to take a pass on it. You are . Thank you for the assist there. Why is rudy so messy . He works for a really messy client. I think what Rudy Giuliani is trying to do is get in front of t
News, analysis and interviews with politicians and observers. Several other top campaign officials, and with russians who had ties to the kremlin. On sunday, this tweet describing in the clearest terms yet what this meeting was about. This was a meeting, the president tweeted, to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics and it went nowhere. Adding lastly, i did not know about it. Now remember, when the New York Times was first breaking news of this meeting, the president Helped Don Junior Draft a statement that claimed it was about adoption policy. After that was proven to be a lie, the president s story began evolving, to use a polite term. This is a year ago in paris. I think from a practical standpoint, most people would have taken that meeting. Its called Opposition Research or Even Research into your opponent. Ive had many people ive only been in politics for two years, but ive had many people call up, we have information on this factor or th
Tantrum. Hes contradicting his sons original story about the Trump Tower Meeting with russians saying the purpose was to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. Well, if trumps lied about the purpose of the meeting once it became public, and just over a year ago the president himself dictated the statement to his son saying we primarily discussed the program of adoption of russian children that was popular and active with American Families years ago. But emails from donald trump, jr. Show the premises of the meeting from the get go was to get dirt on clinton. Now, the president admits the meeting was for Opposition Research and admits its no big deal. Hes wrong. Its a violation of federal law. Dana bash reporting that trumps advisers want him to stop tweeting about the meeting. Lots to discuss now. Cnn contributor frank bruiny and Global Affairs analyst max booth, a senior fellow on the affairs of foreign relations. A recap of the days news. Took the stand today incriminating really his former bo