A recap of the days news. The idea that somehow this is floating out in the ether somewhere in orbit far away from the central focus of this investigation is just not true. Those lines of investigation are open. And this is a man who has shown himself willing to do some fairly dodgy work for people supported by the kremlin abroad in the ukraine. And thats one reason why hes standing in court today. And this is just the beginning and again, one of two trials. The first of two trials for Paul Manafort this summer. So this is and the first one as far as the russia investigation. Listen, theres they have to go a long way, as you said. Theres a long way to go, and april, the judges name is ts ellis. He banned any mention of President Trump, russia or collusion from the courtroom. I mean, that may be, but the trial is no doubt weighing on this white house. It is definitely weighing on this white house, don. From my sources, theyre saying
the white house is very concerned. They are trying to huddle together and figure out how to message this. If you talk about the issue of a possible pardon, they im hearing from my sources Paul Manaforts name is not even on the list and theyre not talking about it. It is so serious right now. And then ive talked to other people who former Justice Department officials from the highest heights who say this is going to be a slam dunk. This white house is very, very concerned because they feel this is a toxic issue, and what happens is that Paul Manaforts partner gates, he could really be a critical player in linking things to russia. You know, because we already hear about ukraine. They are very concerned right now. Kellyanne conway was on fox news. Heres what she said about the trial. This trial obviously centers on matters that have nothing to do with the campaign. I think even many manafort as i read it had asked there be no mention of his brief tenure at
the Trump Campaign. This has nothing to do with collusion or russia or the Trump Campaign. Theyre down playing even though manafort was chairman for three critical months, april . Yeah. And we saw him at the convention. I mean, i remember being in cleveland on the floor. He was Walking Around with his body guard or handler taking care of convention business. No matter how short of a stint, he played a critical role. This white house is going to distance themselves because they dont know the outcome, but they are concerned. My sources are very clear. Theyre trying to figure out messaging and they are also concerned about how this is going to play out because once again, just as jim sciutto said, there are connections to russia for Paul Manafort and this tax evasion, all the things going on, and his partner is very key in telling the story in this courtroom. All right. Rick, youve been sitting by patiently. Lets bring you in now. Do you think the start of the manafort trial is one reason why were seeing tweet after tweet
from the president and Rudy Giulianis really confusing interviews . I think this manic performance you saw from rudy this week and the tweet gasm trump has had to throw as much stuff into the wind as he possibly can are both directly related to the fact that Robert Mueller has a very strong case against Paul Manafort here, and they recognize that the charges against manafort are leverage to have manafort speak about the things he knows concerning Donald TrumpsCampaign Ties and Donald Trumps personal ties to russia. You know, Paul Manafort didnt just wander in one day. He and roger stone had a very, very long relationship. He and the president had a very long relationship before he was named chairman. He had Business Relations with Tr Tom Barack and other people around trump. This is a guy who knows where bodies are buried and understands the russian money flow coming out of russian billionaires who seem to have
all just found that trump tower was an irresistible property in manhattan for them, and so manaforts vulnerability here to the case that mueller has against him is quite high. The white house is well aware of it. Theyre in their usual panic mode, and theyre going to th w everything out under the sun. I would be surprised by nothing including trump Walking Around naked in the trees to change the subject. Dont say that. No matter how many times Kellyanne Conway opens her lie hole saying this has nothing to do with the president , it does have everything to do with the president. I dont need to picture that, but okay. Jim, i want to circle back to you a little bit and discuss something that i just you know, i mentioned, i touched on a moment ago. This is the virginia trial. Paul manafort is going to face separate charges in washington. Talk to me about that. Listen, you have these relate to financial crimes in general. Were talking about bank fraud, tax fraud, failure to register as a Foreign Agent which you have to do if youre going to lobby on behalf of a foreign government. The breadth of the charges against Paul Manafort significant enough that you have two viable cases in two separate very serious courts in the d. C. Area. This is going to be a long one. When you speak from his legal liability, its tremendous, and thats kwhwhy you arrive at tha 300year figure. You wont. But hes facing so many charges that carry serious sentences. And from a political perspective as well these are trials that are going to go on and drag on for some time and keep these issues in the conversation for this president and this administration no matter how hard they try. The second point in response to rick and april is this. This pattern of this administration of denying any relationship, significant relationship with anybody who runs in trouble is consistent. Weve seen that in the last 72
hours. Paul manafort who only served as the chairman of the Trump Campaign through the convention in three months Michael Cohen who only served as the president s lawyer and fixer for more than a decade, again, disposed of as if he was has always been that way. Thats the way the president treats and disposes of these people and makes claims as if he had far less of a relationship with him than the back show he had. A lot more to talk about. Ill keep you around for another segment. When we come back, more on Paul Manaforts trial. The first witness was a democrat that worked for the Bernie Sanders campaign. What was his testimony . Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens brown paper packages tied up with strings these are a few of My Favorite Things
one of Paul Manaforts people accusing people of living an extravagant lifestyle. This as manaforts Attorney Says he plans to pin all the crimes hes been accused of on rick gates. Theyre pointing fingers back and forth. Why all the finger pointing, jim . Whats going on . Im not a lawyer but from speaking to lawyers involved, my understanding is this is a natural play from a defense lawyer. This situation in that rick gates has pleaded guilty and when you plead guilty for a lower sentence, you are cooperating. Hes cooperating with
investigators. Paul manafort and his team know rick gates is a significant source if not the primary source against him. Their natural defense is to attack his credibility as a witness against manafort. Again, im not a lawyer. It seems remarkable that you would say that you relied on your deputy and blame him, but my understanding from talking to lawyers about this is thats a natural defense play in this environment with the cooperating witness. And jim, we heard testimony today from a Democratic Political stunt, ted devine who worked with manafort in ukraine. How much work did manafort do in ukraine . My understanding of his role was to walk the jury through exactly how this worked. What kind of work they did. Russias involvement in that work, how they were working for the pro russian candidate there. Basically how they were lobbying
on behalf of a pro russian Ukrainian Government which is a significant part of their case and also walking through how they were paid. Right . Because thats really the essential fact of the charges hes facing is that the money significant amount of money, millions of dollars he was paid for the work was routed illegally seemingly to avoid u. S. Taxes. So my understanding of his testimony was to show the ties, show russias tie to that and exactly how this work was done to avoid u. S. Taxes and, therefore, break the law. Rick, more specifically, ted devine described rick gates as doing things like arranging travel and saying manafort led the Campaign Strategy in ukraine. That Doesnt Sound Like Manafort was duped in any way. No. Look, Paul Manafort is a slippery operator. Hes been in the suers of d. C. For a long time. Hes served the most egregious sort of dictator figuring around
the world. Trying to throw his minion under the bus isnt going to work here, and Paul Manafort is the guy in the room with people. He is the guy in the room with the people closing these deals. Its not rick gates, his guy. Its Paul Manafort getting the briefcase full of cash. Its not rick gates. Paul manafort seems to have kept rick gates on a short leash in terms of control. And sent him to do administration and not master mind snchlgt. Minding. April . Its odd he gets over 60 million thats funneled to cyprus, and everything is supposed to be on the up and up because thats what the client wanted. They wanted to show the kind of circles he traveled in. Thats why devine came there. One of the things sticking out to me is the fact that many of
the Trump Supporters are saying that this is just a witch hunt. But this is not about speculation. For mule toeller to bring this, feel they have an airtight case. At the same time you have to remember, theres something called the rule of law. To work for someone who was an underling politically and bring them back to the top and get 60 million for this and then evade taxes for 15 million, thats just one piece. Thats tax evasion. And then have the money funneled to cyprus, because thats what the client wants, something it doesnt pass the smell test. Thats not a hitch wasnt. And witch hunt. There are russian connections. People have to understand this is not playing out in the court of Public Opinion because someone says something. There is a thing called the rule of law that has been broken. So i think that needs to continue to be put on the table as we talk about the facts of this case and the russia investigation. Jim, ive been wanting to talk to you about this. Im just getting the list of
information of the folks involved here. Mueller referring cases to the Southern District of new york concerning whether several lobbyists failed to register their work as Foreign Agents. One is podesta. As were talking about the Work Manafort did. Hes not the only one. That work is not illegal to be clear by itself. It becomes illegal if you dont register as a Foreign Agent as youre lobbying on behalf of a foreign government. Its illegal if you take the money and rye to rout it around the system so you dont pay taxes in it. Thats why Paul Manafort is in a courtroom. You have similar questions about what he registered it for in terms of registering as a Foreign Agent that tony podesta is facing. Listen, the broader point there is that you have a lot of u. S. Lobbyists who do a lot of work, a lot of highly paid work for some not particularly nice or friendly governments around the world. Ukraine and the pro russian government of ukraine is not the only one. It shows you theres bipartisan malpractice here overseas as well. The legal troubles hes facing are not insignificant. April, i want to switch gears. I didnt get a chance to talk to you yesterday about this. My interview with lebron james. I want you to listen to some of the things he said about this president. Watch this. We are in a position right now in america more importantly where this whole race thing is taking over. You know . And because one, because i believe our president is trying to divide us. For him to like i said use sports to divide us, i cant sit back and not say nothing. What would you say to the president if he was sitting right here . I would never sit across from him. April, trump often retaliates against people critical of him. Why do you think he hasnt done that with lebron . Its a losing moment for him. Lebron james is riding high with the i promise school. Its amazing. At the same time once the president all of this kind of really came to a crescendo moment when the Philadelphia Eagles were not allowed to come to the white house and they declined or whatever you want to call it. And we called it out. They kept saying that it was disrespectful. And then i remember asking that day to Sarah Huckabee sanders does the president realize what taking the knee is about . That put the real piece on it. They kept the narrative saying its about disrespect of soldiers. Its about disrespect of flags but the issue is Police Involved abuses and shootings, and America Supports Police but they want to weed out bad policing. If youre the president of all america and theres one segment of america crying out, lebron
james is right, theres an issue. If he doesnt want to sit across from the president , thats his prerogati prerogative. But lebron james is right, and so many other not just African Americans not just latino brothers and sisters, everyone sees something is wrong. There is a divide. There is a racial divide. We are not trying to gas it up. Were not trying to create a racial animus, but there is a problem in this nation and this president is president of all america. Hes more of a divider right now when it comes to race than he is a uniter. Lebron james is right. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you all. I appreciate that. When we come back Robert Mueller has gotten one guilty plea after another. But Paul Manafort is not along them. Why is that . Our legal experts discuss that next. vo when bandits stole the lockbox from the wells fargo stagecoach,
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whether or not a message has been sent back. Weve heard about back channels the administration likes to have. We dont know if theres a pardon deal on the table or if thats been mentioned. At this point, i feel like he keeps his mouth shut and moves forward. This is a paper case. It will be easy to prove. I expect hes going to be convicted of it, and at the end of the day, hes looking at a long time in jail if, in fact, trump doesnt come in and give him a pardon . Are you insinuating theres fear about you said he was moving money for the russians . Well, shehes charged with my launderi laundering. We know hes had involvement with folks of a less savory nature. At this point hes decided to keep his mouth shut and go through the process. Knowing if he gets convicted, im sure trump knows what he knows. That is manafort thinks that maybe some leverage to help him
seek a pardon later on. Glen, manafort so far hasnt had a lot of luck here. He was thrown in jail by a d. C. Judge over allegations that he was witness tampering, and the Virginia Judge declined to change venues and throw out evidence. If he was having tremendous success, that would be one thing, but so far were not seeing anything to show that this could end well for him. No. I think his Bad Luck Streak will continue with bob muellers team prosecuting him. Theyre some of the most experienced prosecutors, particularly in this field of financial fraud, and i agree with michael.