Unwanted, the poorly bred, those yearning to be free, and we will do whatever the hell we can to make it if were given a chance. It is the exception among us who doesnt have that in their blood. Remember who we are because who we are is the key to what we are and why this country has always been great. Thats our closing argument. Thank you for getting after it with us tonight here. Ill see you tomorrow night. D lemon picks it up from here. Its a great closing argument. Number one, lebron james talked to me about the kids being separated at the border. Again, hes saying thats not who we are. Number two, when you said that and talked about summer camp, you reminded me. I saw your wife this weekend. Didnt you pick up one of your kids from summer camp . She was in chicago, and she won best actor in her level of character she had. You know whats sad . I asked a guest a while back, do you think that its possible that some of these kids will never be reunited with their parents . The guest said no. Im thinking now that its a real possibility, and i think it has been said that its a real possibility that some of these kids may never be reunited. I just think this. Crossing the border illegally is something that you have to deal with. Weve always known that. That aint new. Its the message thats being sent out to the world about what this country is about and what it values. That concerns me. This is a democracy, and if thats what the people want the country to be, but be clear about it and dont hide what youre doing to make it that way. Lets see how people who want to lead us in this country make those arguments in the upcoming election. Upcoming election coming soon. Chris, thank you. Good seeing you. Welcome back from your couple days back. Well see you tomorrow. Thanks. President trump hitting the Campaign Trail Tonight in
hes accused of hiding millions of dollars in overseas income and offshore accounts. Prosecutors describing what they call his extravagant lifestyle with Bank Accounts in three countries, seven homes, and lavish spending on clothes and jewelry including a 21,000 watch and a 15,000 ostrich skin jacket. So it is no surprise that sources say the white house has adopted a strategy of distancing the president from manafort while keeping a close eye on the trial behind the scenes. And its no coincidence that President Trump tweeted his new favorite defense this morning that collusion is not a crime
A recap of the days news. This is a test for Robert Mueller. Right . It is. Lets be clear. The message youll hear from the president and many of his loyalists is this is not connected at all to trump or to russia, but lets go through the facts here. You did a good job of listing the number of criminal charges hes facing in two courts. This is just the first of two trials here. This was the president s Campaign Chairman. The president chose him specifically to help him secure the republican nomination. So he was not an insignificant player in the Trump Campaign. 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,
A recap of the days news. 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 why you arrive at that 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
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 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 mueller to bring this, they 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 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. Iphone 8 on us. I knew at that exact moment. Im beating this. My main focus was to find a team of doctors. Its not just picking a surgeon, its picking the care team and feeling secure in where you are. Visit cancercenter. Com breastPaul Manafort facing 18 charges of bank fraud, tax evasion and other financial crimes in the first trial from the mueller investigation. It raises questions about why the former Campaign Chairman did not make a deal with the Special Counsel like other members of trump team. Im going to bring in Michael Moore and glen kushner. Michael, im going to start with you. Why do you suppose manafort hasnt pled guilty aside from the obvious that he really believes in his innocence . Well, theres probably a couple reasons. I mean, number one if hes moving money for the russians, hes going to keep quiet about that. It could be that hes expected trump to come in at the end of the day and pardon him. We dont know if theres been overt conversation about that, 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, hes charged with money 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. I think there are a couple of other reasons that might explain why manafort has not pled guilty. It could be that bob mueller has never extended a plea offer to manafort. Why . The prosecutors already have rick gates so they would rather do business with rick gates who is a smaller