i feel good about you, i ll take care of you, maybe even i ll pardon you if you get into trouble as long as you stay on my side of the line. and, joyce, we know from reporting in the new york times that a trump lawyer raised the prospect of pardons for flynn and manafort. we know that that was something that robert mueller probed. it would appear that revelations like this and a judge ordering that this be made public also explains the doj/white house strategy, but it doesn t explain what was behind mueller s ultimate decision to leave this to barr except, of course, that maybe that wasn t mueller s decision. maybe leaving the obstruction probe unresolved was the end of the mueller probe, no? you know, it is such a difficult question. we don t know what was animating bob mueller s decision at that point in time. it seems like it would have been so easy for him to go a little bit further, and so at some point in time we will have to hear mueller and perhaps others from his team te
there s no reason to read this other than i ll take care of you and maybe pardon you if you get in trouble if you stay on my side of the line. we know a trump lawyer raised the prospects of pardons for flynn and manafort. it would appear that revelations like this and a judge ordering that this be made public explains the doj white house strategy, but it doesn t explain what was behind mueller s ultimate decision to leave this to barr, except, of course, that wasn t mueller s decision, that maybe leaving the obstruction probe unresolved was the end of the mueller probe? no? it s such a difficult question. we don t know what was animating bob mueller s decision at that point in time. it seems like it would have been so easy for him to go a little bit further. so at some point in time we will have to hear mueller and perhaps others from his team testify. it seems like it would be a good idea for congress to put on a
when michael cohen talks, it comes with a certain level of authority. and i think donald trump fundamentally knows that. if i were the chairman of the committee, i basically lean back and say, mr. cohen, have you seen any shady business at the trump organization? and let the guy talk. the president s friends said since cohen became a household name for those of us who covered this president, this was the guy, it wasn t mueller who kept trump up at night. it may now be. but at the time cohen eef s off were raided, people closest to the president said this is the guy, this is the guy who did the dirty, embarrassing stuff that really gets under the president s skin. that s right. it s been clear ever since the genesis of the mueller investigation the biggest concern for trump himself and for the people in his immediate orbit has always been about money. the mueller investigation really started getting under zhirn w t mueller brought on agents from the criminal investigations section w
search warrant in more than one location. michael, it s very possible the president s emotion and anger there were real, though i m not sure most americans would define it as an attack on our nation, because this is just a family business and a family law practice we re talking about. donald trump knew exactly what was in those files and what perhaps was on those recordings that the feds seized. at the heart of the cohen issue is something the president has created a red line against since december 2017. he said at the time if mueller were to look at his finances, it would be crossing that line. well, it ultimately wasn t mueller, it was these prosecutors in new york who had sort of an offshoot of the mueller investigation. but when they re going in to michael cohen s office and looking at these things, they are heading down the road of looking at the president s finances. and that is where the investigation has focused,
here in new york. day 761 of the trump administration and the new york times, as we mentioned, is out with an incredibly detailed account of the president s two-year effort to derail and discredit the investigations now encircling him and some of his associates. the reporting is the work of four journalists, including michael schmidt, who joins us in just a moment. the trump presidency is under criminal investigation, and trump s public battles against the inquiries have become a signature of his administration thus far. a number of actions, including the firing of james comey, reportedly ordering the white house counsel to fire robert mueller and ordering jeff sessions to end the mueller effort have raised questions about obstruction. however, this new times report, quote, reveals the extent of an even more sustained, more secret assault of mr. trump on the machinery of federal law enforcement. perhaps the biggest revelation