A recap of the days news. A recap of the days news. A recap of the days news. Through the Revolving Door down here, theres a word that became a word i never heard of until this presidency when people were sort of struggling with how to describe this government of sort of fringe characters, people with resumes that did not usually enter into government service. And that word is chacistocracy. It points in this presidency, its been an apt way to describe it. To paraphrase donald trump, theyre not sending their best. And i think the evidence that you its not a partisan point, you laid out the evidence there of an administration that is just filled with people who have either crossed ethical
lines or challenged norms that we have all upheld for decades in this country. And all being led by the president at the top who sets that tone. Lets talk more about the swamp here, Rudy Giuliani says they have responded to muellers latest proposal regarding an interview. These allegations should be over by september 1st, are they in a position to be calling the shots like that . No. Nor would they even know what theyre saying. Weve had a series of those kinds of statements from giuliani, was going to be a couple weeks. Weve had a series of the statements from trump starting back in june. Im 100 ready to testify. And instead what weve received is this kind of tango between the two groups where giuliani and trump at least feign some kind of desire and willingness to sit down and answer some questions in some form. Not acting in anyway the way a witness or not to mention a suspect in a criminal probe would act. You dont believe them . You dont think hes going to sit down . You think theyre feigning interest . I do think theyre feigning, its been that way for a long time. In part, though, i think it because i think its not in trumps interest to sit down. Not because its a perjury trap, one of the two word trump slogans he throws about like drain the swamp or fake news, its really hard to know what he means. But because he knows mueller seeks real answers to important questions. And mueller will have information that trump doesnt have. And it will put him in a precarious position if he has any vulnerability. The time has come then, i think this is an important question. The time has come now to subpoena the president . In a word, yes. I mean, i would never want to second guess robert mueller,
hes got impeccable judgment along with everything else, there has been some reason hes been staying his hand, but surely if the reason to stay his hand is that theyll be able to work out a deal. Its pretty clear that wont happen. It will have some delay to subpoena him. There will be a legal battle, but thats going to happen whenever he does it. You know, i think not only do we need it for the probe, but we need it for the country. We need to know whats happened, we need to know where trump what trump asserts, and we may never find out without his being forced in some way to give answers. Lets bring you in now, laura. The president s team wants to limit what the Special Council can ask and saying that they would consider questions related to obstruction as long as they arent perjury traps. If lose telling the truth, why does he need to worry about perjury . Arrogance. You want to be arrogant enough
to dictate the terms of someone who holds a greater Bargaining Position than you do. Im showing the court of public opinion, and maybe the court of law that i am being reasonable. I am negotiating in good faith here to try to voluntarily sit down and avert even a compulsion of a Subpoena Discussion in the court of law, its mueller who is tieing my hands who is making it impossible for me to do what i know the American People and my leadership dictates that i do. But theyre playing this game of good cop and bad cop, knowing that both are all in on the feigned exercise here. And when he tries to dictate the terms of the obstruction conversation, it alerts you to two things, don. Number one, there is a real nearsightedness by the president of the United States legal team that says, this entire Collusion Probe is simply about whether the president of the United States has engaged in wrongful conduct at the tail end of the campaign. And also it shows you that his
fixation on the notion of obstruction is one that his own behavior continues to fuel. The only reason that aspect of the investigation has been prolonged is because he continues to tweet and engages in acts that make people say, i think a red flag has been lifted here about your own conduct. Perhaps if he stopped talking about the issues, he would be able to have a more timely efficient close of the probe and what would we talk about . Theres still plenty to talk about, because the president has an irresistible urge to do so. I was being snarky. Those all fuel Robert Muellers thirst to say, what is it you dont want me to see, thats the only thing i want to look at. I want to play this, this is what Rudy Giuliani said to trumps other lawyer. On jay seculos radio show. We have now given him an answer you he should take a few
days to consider it. He has all the information he needs. The interview will provide everything that he has. It seems like that they are trying to delay or stop an interview at all costs. Despite the president saying they want to get over it. Everything that giuliani and seculos public lawyers, everything they say has to be viewed through the prism of What Giuliani has said previously. And that is one. Mueller cannot indict the president. He alleges that mueller has told them that. This will only play out. The only possible consequences for trump would be in congress in an impeachment setting. This is not to them, its not a normal Criminal Case a normal
criminal defense attorney would not be out there playing these kinds of games, these giuliani knows his clients. He believes this, if its true, muellers never said this publicly. That he cannot be indicted. So that is a huge ace that they hold, knowing that mueller can never indict the president. Knowing that the only forum is going to be congress and impeachment. So they can turn this into a completely political battle. Did it escape any of you that the president s attorney has a radio show . And he invited his other private attorney to be on. You discussed the conversations you probably had with your client its not that you cant ever indict a president period its a sitting president. The idea you could cause there to be an indictment is key here. I think robert muler is keenly aware of that particular aspect of it. Stick around, everyone, well get you in on the other side, harry. Despite demanding an end to this russia investigation. Dragging out negotiations with mueller through the november midterms could boost republican candidates at the polls. Well talk about that next. Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens brown paper packages tied up with strings these are a few of My Favorite Things
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twist in defense of the president , it could be done by labor day. The president s attorney seems to be supporting a new strategy tonight. Lits talk about rudy, shall we . I promise you the First Response Rudy Giuliani is telling cnn it could benefit if if muellers investigation are. Even if the president gives an interview, mueller wont know anything more than he already knows. Hes asserting literally theres no more to know, theres no what did you say you told jim comey . Or when did you find out about the russia meeting . Or why did you get so angry at Jeff Sessions and what did you say . These are the critical core questions for judging his state of mind. And giuliani seeks to put them
off the table. I do think if it drags on. The probe hangs over him and it obviously creates a kind of cloud. On the other hand if the report comes out and its damning, then that will be the kind of record that is taken in to the midterms. It could be that hell already have begun to pivot, i think time probably favors Mueller Over Trump at this point. I think the strategy, though, ryan is that giuliani thinks its going to energize the gop voters, people are getting tired of it, or it will betray trump as a put upon figure that should everyone is out to get him. Is he right. Theyre turning mueller into this person whos unfairly out to target trump. The whole Witch Hunt Rhetoric and all that. And i dont know if hes right
about that, it probably depends on the race and the demographics of the district youre talking about, some republicans dont want to talk about this issue at all, others have leaned into it more and talked about it, if you look at that ohio race last night, the special election, neither candidate was really hot on the russia issue, they talked about tax cuts and medicare and bread and butter issues. I do think my own view is, it would be good for the country if this report if muellers going to write a report thats going to become public. Wouldnt that be great if we had that before election day. And the country would know all the facts and there wouldnt be this Issue Hanging over trump. We would actually voters could go to the polls understanding that the makeup of how important the makeup of congress was going to be. If they thought the Mueller Probe was bs, they could keep the republicans around, if they thought it was serious and only a new Democratic Congress could
rectify the situation. I have to ask you. Do you think muellers considering the impact of all this might have on the midterms in november . I think hes required to consider the impact of every major prosecution on elections. The doj policy is that youre not supposed to engage in a prosecution that could impact an election. Which assumes the person you may be targeting would be on the ballot. Thats not the case here for President Trump. Hes not on the ballot, not a member of his campaign team. So it would be assuming that the doj policy is that one should not prosecute or pursue prosecution of anyone, even if the people who are targets or subjects would have no bearing on the actual ballot initiative. Its a big assumption he would make. You think its a red herring . I think its a very big red herring. The reason giuliani is pointing to september is because of early voting. There are states around the
nation that have early voting beginning in september. Which ironically is one of the things that many of the Voter Fraud Commission did not enjoy about having the early access to the polgs, and now they are aware, keenly aware that the early elections will have some impact on muellers consideration of how long to continue this probe. Do you really think, ryan, witch hunt whatever happens out of the mueller investigation. Do you think thats going to that wont really change anything when it comes to the base . The Target Audience here, i think in the court of public opinion. I guess maybe to keep the space energized would be interest and it would be people that you could possibly peel off from the democratic party, right . I mean i guess i still believe, maybe im naive, if mueller finds evidence of a crime, that republicans, that there is a chance that republicans would change their
views about the investigation. Remember, in watergate, i mean, people defended republicans defended nixon after a lot of very incriminating evidence had built up. Even after john deans testimony, right . His own White House Council came out against him and said he as a crook. We dont believe dean. Nobody things didnt turn until you had the smoking gun tape. And so im not saying that mueller has that. I still i do believe there is some red line at some point that could be triggered in the investigation. And we wont know that until mueller reveals all he knows. Until we get to that red line. Harry, giuliani and trumps legal team they keep using this phrase, perjury trap. We talked a little bit about this before. They do it because theyre trying to raise questions about muellers tactics, right . Thats part of it, i think it is a kind of slogan that revs the base up. I agree with the point that ryan just made, that were really talking about trying to have an impact on the sort of margin of people who can actually be persuaded to think twice about it, they bandy it around. And god knows what they think it means, its certainly nobody proposes here to treat him different from other witnesses who come in and give the facts about what they knew and what happened. And when they knew it. A perjury trap if it means anything is a sort of setup just to play gotcha with a factual question. These are the deep questions that are front and center in this criminal investigation. They have been for over a year. And muellers been stymied in trying to get to them by trump. If you think for just a second of the kinds of questions trump will be asked, i think you have to dismiss the idea that it could ever be a perjury trap. Theyre really rolling the dice when it comes to the
subpoena thing. If he is subpoena, he doesnt have the opportunity i have to get to the break. His attorneys wont be in there with limb, right . They could make a compromise. And they have in the past, certainly he cant try to set the rules as hes doing now. Thank you all. Appreciate your time. When we come back, the new york Congressman Accused of Insider Trading who could face up to 150 years in prison if hes convicted. Chris collins not only denying the charngs, but insisting hes going to run for office again. Crabfest is back at red lobster,
ooh, heaven is a place on earth [ sobs quietly ]
they could avoid losing hundreds of thousands of dollars. Good evening, its so good to have you on. I want to read. Let me give you the time line here before we talk about it. Keep in mind this is all happening on white house grounds. Collins gets an email from the ceo of the company saying the drug failed clinical trials. Six minutes later, collins tries to call his son cameron, Making Contact after four attempts. Cameron contacts his future motherinlaw, who tells her broker to dump the stock. The next Morning Cameron dumps over 16,000 shares of the company. So when you see it all laid out like that, does it seems like collins and his attorneys have an uphill climb here . What do you see when you look at that time line . Well, its clear don that
these allegations are very serious, and that Chris Collins is going to have a tough time, and his family, goingforward, now, we have to operate under the presumption of innocence. Doj is theyve indicted him, that will trigger the House Ethics Committee to act. They will empanel an investigation subcommittee. The department of justice will call the subcommittee and say, please defer the matter to us. The committeep likely honor that request. Right now Chris Collins is going to be in for a really rough road here, theres no question about it, hes been stripped of his seat on the energy and Commerce Committee as i understand it, so hes going to have to hes going to have to fight this out in court. His bigger problem is that the doj problem, the criminal charges and the ethics issue. If he were to plead guilty or if he were to be convicted. Then it would be expected he
would resign. If not, the Ethics Committee would take that up as a matter of an expulsion. We had a situation here in philadelphia, chaka fattah. Hes in prison now on misdeeds. Many have speculated about my relationship. Here are the simple facts, my connections with the company are well known. I believe i acted properly and within the law, at all times with regard to my affiliation with anate. Throughout my tenure in congress, very followed all rules and all ethical guidelines, when it comes to my personal investments, including those with innate. He denies wrongdoing, says hes going to run for reelection. If he deflies it, and hes not guilty, fine, but hes not going to hes going to run for reelection, do you think thats a mistake in. Well, i wouldnt. I mean, hes going to be spending a whole lot of time and effort just trying to defend himself and clear his name. Again, hes entitled to the presumption of innocence, hes done nothing wrong. Hes going to have to make that case in court. He may or may not prevail. Id rather not have to deal with a Political Campaign simultaneously while im fighting this Battle For My Life legally speaking. Thats a lot on his plate. He did say hes not going to speak about there publicly. The only time he would do it is in a court of law or with his attorneys, as far as the public, in front of the media, hes not going to talk about this investigation. You were on the House Ethics Committee back in october of 2017, when it was announced that collins was being investigated for Insider Trading allegations. That investigation is on going, how far along had that investigation come before you stepped down from congress . I was no longer on the committee in october of 2017. I had been term limited out, i
finished my term january 1st of 2017, i was not involved with that investigation. What youre referring to, there was the office of congress ap ethics took up this matter and they were reviewing it prior to that indictment. All they can do is make a recommendation to the House Ethics Committee. It can either further investigate the matter or dismiss the matter, thats all it can do. And the office of congressional edge ithics that is not underta this review, does not have the ability to sanction. There are four sanctions that the house can impose on a member. Expulsion, and there have been five or six expulsions in the history of the house. Three or four were during the civil war for treason. A member can be censured, reprimanded or a letter of approval. That is all the house can do. Ethical matters are not criminal matters, were dealing with violations of house rules here. An ethical matter can become a criminal matter if not handled properly. Chris collins Biggest Issue is with the department of justice and this criminal investigation. Thats whats going to really make or break him at the end of the day. Thank you, don. Great to you with you. I think about all the controversy that has surrounded the va over the last few years or so. Over the last few years, when we come back, theres an absolutely shocking report that shows the president s friends and members of his private club are making major policy and personnel decisions for the va. The reporter who broke this story joins me next to explain how the maralago crowd is running the department of veteran affairs. L. 1, cover 2, define 3, enhance buildable, blendable formulas. For perfect definition. New infallible shaping sticks, by loreal paris. Since joining ninehahi, ubmonths ago,o. My priority has been to listen to you. To cities and communities, and to my own employees. Ive seen a lot of good. Weve changed the way people get around. Weve provided new opportunities. But moving forward, its time to move in a new direction. And i want you to know just how excited i am, to write ubers next chapter, with you. One of our core values as a company, is to always do the right thing. And if there are times when we fall short, we commit to being open, taking responsibility for the problem, and fixing it. This begins with new leadership, and a new culture. And youre going to see improvements to our service. Like enhanced background checks, 24 7 customer support, better pickups, and ride quality, for both riders, and drivers. Youve got my word, that were charting an even better road for uber, and for those that rely on us every day. President trumps efforts to improve the department of veterans atheyres under new strutny tonight. A stunning new report which has been confirmed tonight by cnn, reveals that an unelected Informal Council of President Trumps friends is exerting influence over the va. Theyre identified as ike perlmutter, the chairman of marvel entertainment. None of them has served in the u. S. Military or government. They are all members of the president s maralago club. I want to bring in isaac, who broke this story. Its so good to have you on. This is fascinating and a great piece of reporting. Thank you. Your reporting reveals the three wealthy bhen use trumps club as their home base and theyve come to be known to va officials as the maralago crowd. Heres what you write, they spoke with the officials daily, the documents show reviewing all
manner of policy and personnel decisions. Everyone has to go down and kiss the ring, the normer Administration Official said. Stunning, walk us through that. Well, its a very unusual situation for the past year and a half. There are these three guys in maralago. An Entertainment Executive as a Shadow Leadership for the department of veterans affairs. They dont have any official role in government, theyve been doing this without any accountability or transparency. Very few people outside the va had any idea this was going on. Who gave them the authority to do this . The president. You think back to the transition, there was a period
where trump was asking a bunch of his rich friends to get involved. There was a time where carl icon was going to do deregulation, and Rudy Giuliani was going to do cyber security. Perlmutter said, ill help you fix the va, so then perlmutter got sherman and moscowitz involved. Unlike these other guys who sort of tide away, this one has not only continued but deepened to the point that they managed to stack the leadership of the agency with people who were loyal to them because anyone who didnt get along with them got pushed out or pushed over. What expertise do any of these men have, in Veterans Issues or running of the va. That is the exact question that va officials have been asking themselves for the past years. What business do these guys have
telling us what to do with veterans policy. And the answer is they have the president s ear. Thats what matters. If the bureaucracy resists the trios wishes, perlmutter has a powerful ally, the president of the United States. Whats the extent of their relationship. They talk on the phone regularly, and theyll have dinner when trump is down in maralago, and whenever something veterans related comes to trumps attention the first one hes going to call is perlmutter. Everyone knows that, so no one wants to pick that fight. They know theyre going to lose. Va officials who clashed with the maralago crowd, they were pushed out. That includes a former va secretary david shulkin. He left the agency in march because he had ethics problems. They grew frustrated with shulkin after disagreeing with various issues, fill us in on what happened. Over time at the beginning they had sort of an uneasy relationship with shulkin. They met him before he was confirmed. From the beginning they said, we dont have to meet every month, but were going to talk regularly, and shulkin you could tem from these emails i obtained, could you tell he didnt really love the idea of these guys telling them how to do his job. And over time they grew frustrated with him as well, they thought he should be listening to them and he wasnt. What ended up happening was, there were other political appointees at the va who had a political disagreement with shulkin, they teamed up with the maralago crowd, and that ended up contributing to his downfall. I want to get your response
to this. We offered voluntary advice, seeking nothing in return. We were always willing to share our thoughts, we did not implement any type of policy, possess any authority over agency theyre downplaying their influence saying they were just trying to help. Right. And theyre saying that, well, we were providing advice and that was always optional. Can you see from the e mails that are quoted in the article, thats not how it was received by the va officials when the maralago crowd said they wanted something done a certain way. Everyone understood it had to be that way or else their jobs were in jeopardy because they were representing themselves as speaking on behalf of the white house. Or representing the president s agenda. I want you to stick around for this next segment, when we come back, the former head of the government ethics office
breaks down just how bad this looks for the trump administration, is all of this actually legal . And should it be . But theyre d. Nice tells you what you want to hear. But kind is honest. This bars made with Delicious Cranberries and almonds. So, guess what . We call it cranberry almond. Find your favorite and give kind® a try. The Leesa Mattress. A better place to sleep. The Leesa Mattress is designed to provide strong support, relieve pressure and optimize air flow to keep you cool. Today is gonna be great. Read our reviews then try the Leesa Mattress in your own home. Order now and get 150 off, and free shipping, too. Go to buyleesa. Com today. You need this bed. Bombshell news tonight that three wealthy men who were friends of President Trumps and based at his private club, maralago, are exerting sweeping influence over the v. A. Back with me, isaac, and were joined now by cnn contributor walter shot, former director of the Office Of Government Ethics who resigned his position in President Trumps first year. Walter, good to see you. Welcome to the program. You called this a sinister Shadow Government. Explain that. Well, this is literally the
worstcase scenario of a smokefilled room full of rich guys Making Decisions and pulling strings like puppet masters. And the worst part is, if it wasnt for isaacs work here, e we wouldnt even know about it. And this is precisely the thing that there are lows to prevent. Theres a federal Advisory Committee act that requires you to follow very strict spread year procedures for transparency when youre seeking information from outside groups and the antithesis of following that law is having a smokefilled room with some cabal of rich guys sitting around a resort in florida Making Decisions that going to affect veterans and essentially running a 370,000person agency. The other thing is by counting on these private individuals to do this, youre essentially running the government through people who are not subject to the government ethics laws. Yeah. There was actually some olc,
office of legal counsel, government justice, if youre wielding Government Power you can be deemed governmental and subjected to those laws. Now, i havent seen anyone actually prosecuted under that but, boy, i would love to see that with these guys. Well, isaac, let me ask you, do you get any indication after owl your reporting that the three men are standing down or pulling back . No. Well have to see how they respond to this article and now that the House Democrats on the Veterans Committee are starting an investigation and one of the members is callinging if a hearing on this. Well see how that goes and we have to see, theres its ce true in the time since shulkin was fired, their involvement has increased. Has not decreased. So, i heard you say, you know, that you would like to see a certain law, rule, tested, walter, but in the past,
president s have relied on unofficial kitchen cabinets, but youve never seen anything in outside advisers so specifically involved in one agency . No. This administration keeps delivering firsts that we could just never have manned. Imagined. Its one thing for the president to wall up somebody say know, ask them, gee, what go you think of this situation im dealing with . Its another thing for these people to be able to show up, require the v. A. Employees to come down and meet with them and essentially kiss the ring as isaac put it in his story or take their phone calls or emails and be giving themselins instructions. Thats a Shadow Government because theyre Making Decisions that affect things. The other thing to keep in mind is theyre essentially i cant imagine if any of these three gentlemen called up trump
tomorrow, said, im quitting the club but would like to keep running the v. Sava. That hed l be relying on them. Heres a Bunch Of Guys who paid the president for the right to push around the v. A. A 370,000person agency. That is a very good point. Walter, thank you. Isaac, thank you as well. I appreciate it. Thank you. When we come back, senator rand paul is in russia today where he personally delivered to the russian government a letter from President Trump to vladimir putin. But he and the white house have different explanations as to whats in the letter. Its the Ford Summer Sales event and now is the best time to buy. You ready for this, junior . Yeah, i think i can handle it. No pressure. Thats just my favorite boat. Boom. laughs make summer go right with ford, americas bestselling brand. And get our best deal of the summer zero percent financing for sixty months on f150. Right now, get this special offer on f150 zero percent financing for 60 months during the Ford Summer Sales event. I get it all the time. Have you lost weight . Of course i have ever since i started renting from national. Because national lets me lose the wait at the counter. And choose any car in the aisle. And i dont wait when i return, thanks to drop go. At national, i can lose the wait. And keep it off. Looking good, patrick. I know. vo go national. Go like a pro. Door Bell Rings its ohey. This is amazing. With moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, are you okay . Even when i was there, i never knew when my symptoms would keep us apart. So i talked to my doctor about humira. I learned humira can help get, and keep Uc Under Control when other medications havent worked well enough. And it helps people achieve control that lasts. So you can experience few or no symptoms. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you, and them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible
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