Kate Bolduan gives a fresh take on todays top stories. Kate Bolduan gives a fresh take on todays top stories. Kate Bolduan gives a fresh take on todays top stories. Three of the names included the word senate, which meant which appears to mean that they were trying to go after certain senators, Certain Senate offices. Its not clear because microsoft did intervene in what looks like an early stage which senators they might have gone after. We do know last month, we heard that Senator Mccaskill of missouri, one of the most vulnerable democrats, was targeted also by Russian Military intelligence. We have not heard from the white house yet today. We have heard from the kremlin. Of course, you can imagine they did come out denying any knowledge of this hacking group, of the hackers many its. It says, from the u. S. We hear there was not any meddling in the elections. Whom exactly they are talking about, what is the proof and on what grounds are they reaching such conclusions . Think about that. They are saying from the u. S. We hear that there was not meddling in the elections. Every level of the u. S. Government, intelligence and
Kate Bolduan gives a fresh take on todays top stories. Elections, but focused on perhaps critical viewpoints of Vladimir Putin who are up for election or who will also be engaging in u. S. Elections. They are focused on what is best, obviously for Vladimir Putin. National security adviser john bolton suggested a couple of days ago that russia isnt the only threat here. Talk a listen. I can say definitely its a sufficient National Security concern about chinese meddling, iranian and north korean meddling that we are taking steps to try and prevent it. Its all four of those countries really. All four of those countries. Are they on the same par, the other three, with russia . What we can say is that russia is the most aggressive actor in trying to interfere in the United States political discourse. We would expect other Nation States to mount influence operations. Its abundantly clear that russia is the most aggressive
unsettled. He didnt know everything that happened when white House Counsel don mcgahn, everything he said to special Counsel Robert Mueller about the Russia Investigation. Trump tweeting, he allowed mcgahn to testify and didnt seem concerned. Those same sources tell cnn the president did not know the conversations lasted 30 hours. Nor that his legal team did not fully debrief mcgahn afterwards. Ryan nobles is at the white house. How is this playing in terms of tension within the white house and don mcgahn . It cant be easy. Keep in mind that don mcgahn serves as white House Counsel. He is here at work on a regular basis, still has to deal with the president as well. I think the interesting thread in all of this is that mcgahn seems trying to make sure everyone understands that he views the role of the white House Counsel as being someone who protects the presidency and is the legal voice for the presidency as the office, not for donald trump the person. Thats where the divide seems to be right now between the president , his legal team and don mcgahn. What the New York Times article clearly states is that when don mcgahn was told by the president s private lawyers he should go and take part in these interviews and they were not going to be holding up Attorney Client privilege, that mcgahn became concerned that perhaps he was being set up, that this was something that could be used to make him the fall guy if the Special Counsel determined there was obstruction of justice. The president and his legal team have gone out of their way to say this was all part of their plan, they were trying to be as transparent as possible. What were finding after this New York Times report came out is that they did not know the full breadth of what don mcgahn talked to with the Special Counsel. There are few people that know exactly whats going on here in the white house over the past year and a half than don mcgahn. That appears to be what has the president and his legal team concerned. Ryan nobles with the latest. Thank you. Just ahead, can the president actually take over theMueller Investigation . In a new interview, President Trump says, yeah. But is that really the case . Plus the president takes aim at another former intel official who dared to criticize him, phil mudd. We will look at what sparked the new threat next. Booking a flight at the last minute doesnt have to be expensive. Just go to priceline. Its the best place to book a flight a few days before my trip and still save up to 40 . Just tap and go. For the best savings on flights, go to priceline. When we switched our auto and home insurance. With liberty, we could afford a real babysitter instead of your brother. Hey oh, thats my robe. Is it . When you switch to Liberty Mutual,
you could save 782 on auto and home insurance. And still get great coverage for you and your family. Call for a free quote today. You could save 782. Liberty mutual insurance. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. There has been another note from the jury. This is the third note that we have seen throughout these deliberations. This is day four of deliberations. We understand now that the defense team, the prosecution and the jury, they are all in judge elliss courtroom. At this point, we will find out a little bit more what this note says. The previous notes we have seen, most of them have related to when jurors want to adjourn for the day. Given this is about 11 15 in the morning, they have only been at it for less than two hours, that seems quite improbable. Its likely that this note may seek some further instruction from the judge. As the defense team was walking in, Kevin Downing was asked, do you think this is a verdict . Kevin downing said, no, this is just a note. Their understanding is that this is likely just some jury just seeking clarification from the judge. Remember, erica, we saw one such note on the first day of deliberations. The jury in that instance asked four questions. They asked for some specifics about the tax filings, the foreign bank accounts. They also asked the judge, you can clarify for us what reasonable doubt means. That was the one question that this judge answered. He basically said, reasonable doubt. The prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable daughter. Its more than just possible doubt. Its not beyond all reasonable doubt here. Wondering what exactly this juror the jury is asking the judge in this case. Were going to see this play out. I will give you more information as soon as we know. We know you will let us know as soon as you have that. Appreciate it. Thank you. President trump is raising eyebrows. In a new interview with lawyers he says he is leery of sitting down for questions in the Russia Investigation because the Special Counsel could be setting a perjury trap. He says he is keeping his distance for now. I decided to stay out, he says. I dont have to stay out, as you know. I could go in and i could do
whatever. I could run it if i want. Lets bring in one of the reporters who took part in yesterdays interview with President Trump, jeff mason, White House Correspondent for reuters. Being in that room did the president really mean, i could replace Robert Mueller with myself . Well, all i can say is what he said. That is what he said. The context of that, the in between part that was question is he said that i have decided to stay out. I wouldnt have to, but i have decided that its better for me to stay out. He made clear it was an option and the fact that part of the option at least in terms of what he said yesterday was to run the thing is understandably getting a lot of attention. He said the overall context of that comment was, he is keeping himself at arms length despite feeling like he has another option not to do that. In terms of Robert Mueller, he brought up mueller and Security Clearances. What did he say on that front . We asked him about that. Just last week, on friday when he was boarding marine 1, he spoke to reporters and in the same breath talking about the next person, mr. Ohr at the justice he was considering taking Security Clearance away from, he started talking about mueller having conflict of interest. I asked him, are you considering taking mr. Muellers Security Clearance away . He paused for a second and then said, i havent given a lot of thought to that. When we followed up later, he said, no comment. I dont know. If its something he has considered or not, he certainly is very critical of the Mueller Investigation. He repeated again in our interview he viewed it as a witch hunt and talked about in that same context the possibility of doing an interview with muellers team, that being a potential perjury trap like his lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said. They are sending that message out. He also mentioned in terms of the Mueller Investigation we know about the continued threat we are facing. We have findings from microsoft this morning. The president continuing to ignore in this interview he was saying if it was russia and he was concerned the investigation is actually playing into russias hands. Doesnt seem to be concerned his continued denial could be playing into russias hands. No, indeed. He brought that up on his own. We didnt ask him again, are you convinced russia was responsible for the 2016 election. Thats something he has weighed in on. Corrected himself on during and after the helsinki press conference. Yesterday, we were talking about what he felt he had achieved in his relationship with president putin. And about that Mueller Investigation. He said, look, i think things are going very well for my Aminute Straami administration. The economy is going well. The one place its not going well is the Mueller Investigation and its playing into putins hands. Included in that answer was another dig at the possibility of russia not having been responsible for meddling in the 2016 election despite the evidence and conclusion by his own intelligence agencies. Appreciate you joining us today. Thank you. My pleasure. With us now, jack quinn, white House Counsel in the Clinton Administration and cnn political analyst and National Political reporter, eliana johnson. Picking up where we left off in terms of the president s mindset on russia, not surprising what he told jeff there. We heard this from the president before. As Everything Else is playing out around him, he was noting jeff was noting the president brought this up on his own. Clearly, it must be top of mind. And yet, were seeing all the other things are swirling. We have omarosa last week. We have mcgahn this week. Cnn reporting the president is feeling unsettled by everything. How much is all of this starting to weigh on the west wing itself and whats actually getting
done . You know, i think were in the dog days of summer. We have seen the president sort of filling the void in the west wing by tweeting out attacks on Robert Mueller on twitter. Clearly, all of this stuff is top of mind for him. The Mueller Probe, which he has been told is coming to a close, Paul Manaforts trial which we may be getting a jury verdict on any day. The upcoming midterm elections which will be its own verdict on the first two years of the trump presidency. I think the president knows that he is going to be getting the voters the voters will vote on his first two years in office. He is feeling the heat, both from the Mueller Probe and from voters going to the ballot box. In terms of feeling the heat, we dont hear much from Robert Mueller. Not a lot of leaks. The president has upped his attacks, jack, on Robert Mueller. Not on mcgahn but in the wake of
what we learned about don mcgahn, upping his attacks on Robert Mueller and actually saying, i could run the thing. How should we read that . How do you think Robert Mueller reads that . Im sure he is as baffled as many of us are. He cant run this thing. To do so would require getting rid of Robert Mueller and the team under him. That would create a constitutional crisis. Hopefully, he was being hyperbolic and once again exhibiting the egoism that he brings to the job and feeling that he can run this as well as anything, because he is the supreme commander. He also brought up, jack, this idea of a perjury trap, which he and Rudy Giuliani have floated multiple times, which a number of attorneys i have spoken with, said, thats a term they are putting out. You dont set a trap for someone
to come in and lie. Does the president have a point when you look at it that a couple of people can be in the same conversation and they can both walk away with different interpretations of how it happened . Thats different. Thats not a perjury trap. In a prosecution, you are trying to get to the truth. A perjury trap is a term of art which refers to a situation in which a prosecutor lures an otherwise innocent target into the grand jury, for example, and for the sole purpose of getting that person to commit perjury. Knowing the person will deny something, for example, that the prosecutor already knows. A perjury trap is only a trap in a circumstance in which, number one, the prosecutor is acting
with ill motive and number two, when the target is you know for sure that that person is going to lie. In normal circumstances, a perjury trap doesnt exist when the witness will tell the truth. The solution to any perjury trap, of course, is simply telling the truth as you know it. You make that sound so easy, jack. We have to leave it there. Appreciate you joining us. We are getting more activity from outside the courthouse. We are waiting on a verdict in Paul Manaforts trial there. The jury sent a note. Jessica schneider is live with more. What are you hearing . Reporter it appears that this is not a verdict. We are hearing from the courtroom that the jury has, in fact, submitted yet another note. Again, we have seen a note from this jury before. It was on thursday where they asked those four questions. Were waiting to get the details of exactly what question or
questions the jury has now submitted to the judge. We understand that the defense team, prosecutors, they are in the courtroom. How this unfolds, the jury will be brought into the courtroom. The judge will the clerk probably will read the question from the jury and then the judge would determine how exactly to answer this. Whats interesting is, last week on thursday, the jury asked four questions and the judge actually only answered the one pertaining to reasonable doubt. As to the other ones, he didnt provide any specific instruction. He said, just rely on your recollections, your best memory of what happened during trial. We will wait to see what the question is from the jury. It is important to remember here, were all counting the minutes and hours and days of the deliberations. But these are 18 complicated counts that this jury has to come to a unanimous verdict on each and every count, whether thats for conviction or acquittal. We seem to be quite antsy, but
its possible this jury is just really being painstaking about this and we will see what this note entails to see maybe what charges they might be up to, what might really be a Sticking Point for them and then we will go from there. We will keep you posted as this jury has, in fact, submitted a note. Were waiting to find out exactly what this question is for the judge. The question or questions and how they will be answered in court. Jessica with the latest for us. Thank you. Just ahead, a new threat from the president sparking new questions about who will be allowed to keep their Security Clearance. Trump warning fill mudd, a former cia and fbi official. Why the warning . Stay with us. Labor day event . Where you can shop with confidence and convenience plus get these 4 benefits from kenmore at sears. Up to fifty percent off appliances with your sears card. Like this washer and dryer for 539. 99 each. And this refrigerator for 899. 99. Hurry in to sears today. My dbut now, i take used tometamucil every day. Sh
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