Election. And pursuing the russian meddle and possible collusion, will prosecutor Robert Mueller make President Trump testify under oath . Thats the belief of ken starr who investigated the whitewater and white house intern scandals. Hes here to discuss. With u. S. Embassy in personnel in havana suffering a Mysterious Illness, this week President Trump expelled 15 cuban diplomats. Are we headed for cold war ii . A week after the massacre in las vegas, investigators still trying to learn what drove the shooter. I was in vegas this week. And asked its colorful exmayor, oscar goodman, a former mob lawyer who played himself in casino about how his city is coping. And megyn kelly trying so hard to cross over from fox to nbc, but struggling with viewers and critics. In this political divide, is it just impossible for anyone to switch sides . But first, they told us so. One year ago today, october 7, 2016, brought the news that the russian government was meddling in the u. S. President ial election. At 3 00 p. M. , the news came in the form of an unprecedented statement from the director of national intelligence, james r. Clapper junior. And the department of homeland security. The statement pointed a finger at Vladimir Putin without naming him. Quote we believe based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only russias seniormost officials could have authorized these activities. The statement said. To be sure, the statement received coverage, but as detailed in michael isikoffs new yahoo documentary, 64 hours in october the russian meddle was not the blockbuster you might have expected. It became buried under two other stories that broke immediately after that the Washington Post revelation of the access Hollywood Tape in which the republican president ial nominee used crude and offensive language. Followed by a Wikileaks Dump of Clinton Campaign chair John Podestas emails. It was a stunning news psych until a campaign that had many. In retrospect, it seems difficult to believe that the release of the dnc emails immediately after the post broke the access Hollywood Tape, was a coincidence. And both obscured the more serious matter, the effort by a hostile Foreign Government to determine the outcome of our election. One story involved a verified attack on our National Security. With you both of the others appealed to our prurient instincts. The access Hollywood Tape had all the elements, sex, lies, videotape and captured our attention to the detriment of more serious matters. Many americans spent the entire campaign rubbernecking instead of focused on substance. And many waited until they saw the results of the election to decide whether to be concerned about russia. Based entirely on the outcome. But it doesnt matter who won or whether the outcome was altered. That our partisan domestic differences didnt stop at the waters edge was itself proof of the efforts success. Its been a full year. We didnt listen then. And some of us arent listening now. Joining mow now is ken starr, former u. S. Solicitorgeneral and federal judge, he of course was independent counsel in the whitewater and clinton intern investigations. Judge, nice to have you here. Many forget that while president clinton remained in office after your independent counsel inquiry, you nevertheless obtained 14 criminal convictions. Heres my question how likely with regard to russia, that regardless of what happens to the commanderinchief, there will be multiple indictments of underlings . It depends on the facts. But ill tell you this, given what we do know, especially given what happened the summer with respect to the fbis intrusion Paul Manaforts condominium, in light of the revelations that weve seen about general flynn, i have a sense that there will in fact be indictments. There may be guilty pleas and so forth. But we shall see. What i find very interesting, very briefly, is in line of the information that is now coming out with respect to russian attempts to influence both the National Election and 21 different states, what i expect to see is serious consideration of indicting one or more foreign nationals. Judge, youve said that the president himself will ultimately be under oath in connection with the mueller probe. In what scenario . It will probably be by invitation. There will be every effort im confident bob mule certificate a complete professional with total integrity to respect the dignity of the office of the president. Which you said at the top of the hour. The presidency deserves respect. So the way it will likely work out, in the fullness of time, is for the president s private lawyers, led by ty cobb, who is very able, and bob mueller, personally to sit down and discuss the situation. The president of the United States during the whitewater investigation was under oath on several occasions. In the white house. There was one occasion of course the civil litigation brought by paula jones, when he was under oath in a private law office here in washington, d. C. So it will depend on the negotiations. But i think that is a logical step in bob muellers eventually completing his investigation. Do you believe that bob mueller has or will see the president s tax returns . That, i dont know. It would be a logical step, but it really depends always on the evidence that you have and then your assessment of the evidence with your able team not only of lawyers, but if analysts. And my experience, in whitewater, we depended on superb financial analysts from both the fbi and the irs, these are professional people, they are not motivated by partisan politics, theyre simply trying whatever their politics are, they leave that, the way its to work and i have every confidence that bob mueller will see to it, that politics are left at the door. Bob happens to be a republican. Hes a factandlaw person. And think thats what were going to get, an honest assessment of the facts. A legal hypothetical, one that you had to deal with can a sitting u. S. President be indicted . The Justice Department has an informal policy that the president , the sitting president cannot. That is not embodied in any regulation of the like. It is an understanding. There have been policy statements to that effect. My own view is that a president of the United States can be indicted. Everyone is under the law. I bring this up, because this summer we learned from a freedom of information act request that the New York Times initiated, that there was a memo written at your request on your watch, that looked at the issue, and came to the conclusion that youve just offered. Yes. Our basic system going back to magna carta, 800 years ago in england, was that every person is subject to the law. That also means the criminal law. What i think are separation of powers system means is that as i said earlier, the president must be treated with every possible respect. So that can effect scheduling and the like. But the Supreme Court of the United States held in the civil setting, in clinton versus jones, paula jones, unanimously that the president of the United States had to respond to lawful process, including a civil lawsuit, that strikes me all the more so, if the criminal laws have been violated. Which is obviously a big if. In the clinton case, you made a determination, correct me if im wrong, that a congressional impeachment process, was more suitable than the indictment scenario that ive just asked you hypothetically. In the current case, i want to make crystal clear, judge, theres been no showing that would suggest the potential at this stage of such an indictment. Im asking it hypothetically. But in the russian probe scenario, which would be better suited . A congressional impeachment inquiry like we had with clinton . Or an indictment scenario . I certainly would prefer and it is a hypothetical and may it never happen for the sake of the country, we want stability and have policy disagreements insert them out. When it comes to the president of the United States, it is in fact preferable for the matter, the nature of the alemged offense for the matter to come before the house of representatives, its the ultimate political act by the people to determine whether the president is fit to continue to serve in office. And that determination was made. In president clintons situation, i should just add briefly that there was a statute under which i was serving that actually directed us to refer information to the house of representatives, thats statute is no longer in effect and the regulations under which bob mueller was appointed does not contemplate that at all. Your inquiry began with a land transaction and ended with an intern scandal. Underscoring the point that once theres an investigation under way, you really dont know where its headed. Apply that lesson to this case. Yes, thats a stay tuned. Because information comes in. As long as it arises out, the information thats coming to you, arises out of the investigation, then its appropriate for the special counsel to conduct the investigation in my situation, our situation in the whitewater days, we return to the attorney general of the United States, and said heres the information we have with respect to the Monica Lewinsky situation and she, janet reno specifically authorized it. Theres a very different mechanism in place now. Judge, we appreciate your expertise. Thank you. What are your thoughts at home . Tweet me smerkonish. Ill read some responses throughout the course of the program. I think weve got ready to go right now. Wrong you are, smerkonish. Im often wrong. Its absolutely does matter who won. With russias hands in the pot, look who we got. No, deborah, youre misunderstanding. What im saying is that to many with regard to this russia probe to them they want to know was it outcomedeterminative . As if the only way we should care about this is if they played a role in the direct election of donald trump. To which i say absolutely not. What matters is that they attempted and we should all be concerned about that. Not suit up in our partisan armor. One more if ive got time. Here it is. Smerkonish invites realdonald trump on air, come on, president , think of the ratings. I have an open door for him. I have invited him previously. And i would treat him with dignity and respect. I would like to think that he would enjoy the opportunity to participate with my very direct, but fair questioning. Well see. Still to come it sounds like a spy novel after u. S. Embassy workers in havana were stricken by a Mysterious Illness. President trump has expelled 15 cuban diplomats is the cold war reheating. 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If you have hep c, it can be cured. For us its time to get tested. Ask your Healthcare Provider for the simple blood test. Its the only way to know for sure. Ing. Is the cold war coming back to life . President trump expelled 15 cuban diplomats escalating his response to the Mysterious Illness that has stricken American Embassy personnel in havana. Its another area in which trump is undoing the legacy of president obama. In this case, detant between United States and cuba. The cuban government condemned the act as hasty, inappropriate and unthinking. Motivated by politics. Wheres this leading . Joining me now United States senator chris coons, from great state of delaware, a member of the Senates Committee on Foreign Relations judiciary and ethics. Senator, if we dont have proof that the cuban government itself was responsible for this mysterious attack, should we have expelled their diplomats from the United States . Thats a great question, michael. This whole incident is somewhat of a mystery. Over a number of months 22 diplomats from the United States stationed in havana in cuba were reported Mysterious Illnesses, problems with balance, with memory. With their general health. And finally i think, the Trump Administration acted out of a concern that cuba is responsible for the safety of our diplomats in their country. And cuba exercises very close control of everything within their country. Their Intelligence Service is famously intrusive. I think the sort of htit fo tat retaliation was supposed to ramp up the pressure on cuba and figure out the source of the Mysterious Illnesses and attacks on american diplomats. But where the cubans allowed the fbi to come on their soil and conduct an investigation seems to mitigate against the idea that it was the cuban government itself that was responsible. I guess what im wondering, senator, is whether there are forces at play here, though dont wish for there to be a reapproachment between cuba and the United States. It takes a line out of a new work of fiction by nelson demille, but there are those forces out there. That have been lying in wait for this kind of a moment. And we dont want our Foreign Policy dictated by interlopers, thats what im trying to say. Michael, it is an unfortunate alignment of those who have opposed the reapproachment to President Trump seems to want to roll back whatever he can do to roll back the accomplishments of the obama administration. I appreciate you focusing on this a story in the midst of the swirl about stories of north korea and syria and iran and other international issues, the situation in cuba has not get gotten a great deal of attention. Allowing potentially folks who simply oppose our reestablishing strong relations with cuba to insert themselves into this discussion. Let me continue to work through some of your other responsibilities with regard to Foreign Relations. The president s declining to certify the Iranian Nuclear deal throws this hot potato your direction on pennsylvania avenue. What do you expect the senate to do . Well i think this is a terrible idea, michael. I have vigorously engaged with folks from the Trump Administration at the most senior levels to try to persuade them that giving congress this 60day expedited procedures period in which we could very well snap back sanctions against iran and blow up the entire jcpoa, the socalled nuclear deal with iran, that this is likely to end badly. The decertification that we expect from President Trump is coming week based on news reports, will probably be misunderstood by our allies and our adversaries. It may widen the gap between us in our european allies. It will certainly complicate efforts at putting together a Diplomatic Initiative to restrain north korea. So my concern is that just as we were discussing in the case of cuba. There are forces within the senate and the house who have opposed the jcpoa from the outset and who will likely take advantage of this opening to tri to blow up that deal. Finally, senator, on thursday night the president was surrounded in the white house by military brass, he said something to the media that has set off lots of speculation. Roll the tape and ill ask you to comment. You know what this represents . Maybe its the calm before the storm. Whats your storm . The calm before the storm. What storm, mr. President . Youll find out. Lots of storms brewing. Which one do you think he was referring to . If any . Frankly, i think he was just continuing a tradition of being a reality tv star who tries to hold the worlds attention, tries to make sure that folks dont change the channel. That was a very ominous warning. But given his blustering against north korea and kim jong un, im not sure that this predicting any imminent attack or any imminent military effort by the United States. This is a moment, michael, when im very concerned that our top diplomat, rex tillerson, has been undermined or sidelined by this president. And that there is significant challenges within the state department in terms of functionality and morale. North korea has got to be our Top National Security concern at the moment. And there isnt even a nominee to be the assistant secretary of state for east asia, there isnt even a nominee to be the ambassador to south korea.