Everything thecampaign is d trump will in the short turn suppress trump because hes not trying. She wants to spend 32 million in key states, shes going to look much better in those key states, it has no meaning. Shes got to find a way to make him more utterly acceptable she can do that with elites. Im not sure she can do it with regular people. Trumps job is quit screwing up and get it down to a single concept, enough. Good morning, its tuesday july 5th. Welcome to morning joe. With us on set former Communications Director for george w. Bush nicolle wallace. Managing editor of bloomberg
politics. Iding her for new viewers. She needs no id. Host of with all do respect Mark Halperin. Columnist for Washington Post david ignatius. On capitol hill, msnbc political analyst robert costa. In washington Pulitzer Prize winner and msnbc contributor Jonathan Capehart. Joe has the morning off. Jonathan, im going to get to your interview with Loretta Lynch, which was really telling given what happened over the weekend. A lot of International News out of baghdad especially and around the world. David ignatius will join us for that. But first today Hillary Clinton will appear with president obama on the campaign trail. But that comes after a Holiday Weekend in which she was questioned by the fbi about her private email server. Its the culmination of 16 months of public scrutiny from clintons decision while she was secretary of state to
exclusively use a private email server for her government and personal emails rather than state departments email system first revealed in march 2015. There have been questions every since. Clinton left her home in washington for fbi headquarters saturday morning for what aides describe as a voluntary 3. 5 hour interview. According to fbi took part in a civil and business like meeting by someone familiar with the session. Clinton said she was pleased to have the opportunity to assist the department of justice in bringing this review to a conclusion. That evening, clinton told Nbcs Chuck Todd that she has no knowledge of when the investigation will be over saying she was given no time line. She defended her husbands controversial private visit with attorney general Loretta Lynch. It was a short, chance
meeting that occurred. They did not discuss the justice review. I know nonetheless some viewed it in a different light. Both the attorney general and my husband said they would not do it again. Hindsight is 2020. Both the attorney general and my husband said they wouldnt do it again, even though from all accounts i have heard and seen an exchange of pleasantries. Okay. First of all, i believe that interview was on the phone obviously and only five minutes was allowed, which i think at this point that is like everything here, seems very concocted to protect her. Boy would i like her to be doing well now. Mark halperin, what do you see in this . Are they trying to move this along . Get this over with, even coordinate it and control it. Everything, bill clintons meeting with Loretta Lynch. Private, all of a sudden meeting with fbi on fourth of july weekend, 3. 5 hours. Did they ask for it . Are they trying to move it along . How are we supposed to assume everything is aboveboard here. We dont know some basic things we often know about investigations at this stage. For one thing, is she subject to recall . A lot of times with highprofile witnesses like this, David Kendall, Hillary Clintons lawyer may have negotiated to say you get one crack at her, one time to sit with her. Take as long as you want but thats it. We dont know whether shes coming back or not. We also dont know if prosecutors are looking for a crime here or run influence and say we investigated and theres no crime at all. Prosecutors generally when they investigate a case want an indictment. We dont know what their
mindset is towards this. Everyone i talk to in clinton world seems very relaxed about where things stand. Nicole. You look at the most interesting poll numbers to date, inside our poll, the nbc wall street journal poll had hillary ahead six points. On the question of truth worthiness, central axis around which donald trump will prosecute his case against Hillary Clinton she has a 20 point deficit to donald trump. His entire brand is about telling it like it is. Even when he steps in it, he still has an advantage over her because hes viewed as the truth teller. The case shes prosecuting against him is about competence and more fundamental fitness to serve. But these will now be, i think, these two huge blenudgeons one uses against the other donald trump serves up exhibit c, d, e
in this installment over the weekend. I think there are polls were showing increases block that show how many people are alarmed by these candidates. Ill pull those up for you. That feeds spoke this. Donald trump hammered clinton on twitter. Quote, it was Just Announced by sources that no charges will be brought against crooked Hillary Clinton. Like i said, the system is totally rigged. There are other tweets. But thats his whole argument. Thats his whole case. That was the case in the primary. That was where he had Bernie Sanderss back. Thats where he served as an echo to the kinds of things Bernie Sanders was saying about him and these developments just further along a narrative hes trying sometimes with more success than others to sell about her. Theres no report i should. If someone is not indicted, normally that would be it. Maybe a brief announcement. But donald trump and people who are suspicious i think are going to demand more of an explanation, a norm in the criminal case investigation, if shes not indicted, what did they look at. How do you feel about the election usa suffolk poll, 61 , david ignatius, are alarmed by this election. I just want to know when you first heard the news breaking about the meeting with the fbi, whats your gut on this email story . You and i both know its a story. I think the bigger question all along is do people care . Your gut as a journalist. My gut is secretary clinton is probably winning the legal battle but is definitely losing the trust battle. Im told by defense lawyers i talked to last night that this kind of meeting late in an investigation, which appears to have been voluntary, she wasnt subpoenaed, she wasnt compelled to come, defense lawyers only allow their clients to go to such meetings if they are fairly sure that an indictment is not coming. Thats not 100 but thats how people read it and certainly consistent with what ive been hearing. On the trust side of this, on
how it looks, it seems to get worse and worse. The meeting between bill clinton, the former president , and attorney general lynch couldnt have looked worse. Theres no way youre going to be able to erase that, no matter what formal finding is issued. I think shes doing to have to deal with that. The clintons think they are different. The usual rules dont apply to them. Thats out there and harder to be rid of this. No matter, what the formal finding. Bob costa, you saw the Trump Campaign learning a little bit along the way by at least not getting in the way of bad news for Hillary Clinton. But they had their own set of problems over the weekend. Your gut on both stories. What youre saying now from the Trump Campaign is an attempt to try to professionalize the campaign, a focus on Hillary Clinton, setting the table for the argument they will make if an indictment does not unfold
from the Justice Department. Also the Trump Campaign focused on Vice President ial surge. You had trump at his Golf Club Meeting with senator ernst of iowa, looking beyond Newt Gingrich, Chris Christie of new jersey to more establishment favorites as he tries to make the pick for number two. New york times reported attorney general Loretta Lynch would accept whatever recommendation career prosecutors and fbi made about charges against email clinton about her use of the private email server as secretary of state. Jonathan lynch you interviewed Hillary Clinton and asked about her role and interview and the meeting with president clinton in phoenix. You have a reputation of having the highest integrity, utmost solid judgment. So when people heard what went
down in phoenix, a lot of people were like, friends, supporters, backers, what on earth was she thinking talking to bill clinton. So what on earth were you thinking . What happened . Well, i think thats the question of the day, isnt it . Yes. I think thats a perfectly reasonable question. I think the question that is called by what happened in phoenix because people have also wondered and raised questions about my role in the ultimate resolution of matters involving the investigation into the state department emails. To the extent that people have questions about that, about my role in that, certainly my meeting with him raises questions and concerns, so believe me, i completely get that question. As ive always indicated, the matter is being handled by career investigators and department of justice. They have had it since the beginning. Which predates your tenure as
attorney general. Predates my tenure as attorney general. Same team. They are acting independently. They follow the law. They follow the facts. That team will make findings. It will come up with a chronology of what happened, the factual scenario. They will make recommendations as to how to resolve what those facts lead to. The recommendations will be reviewed by career supervisors in the department of justice and fbi and fbi director. And then, as is the common process, they present it to me and i fully expect to accept their recommendations. One thing people were saying this morning when the news broke was that you were, quote, recusing yourself from having any kind of role in the final determination. That is the case in is that what youre saying . A recusal would mean i wouldnt be briefed on what the findings were, the actions Going Forward would be. While i dont have a role in those findings, in coming up with those findings or making those recommendations as to how
to go forward, ill be briefed on it and i will be accepting their recommendations. Jonathan, nice job with that. Thank you. Mark halperin and jonathan in a second. Im just wondering, if someone is coming onto your plane to meet with you privately and that person is married to the person that is the focus of an investigation that you clearly have say over, dont you just say, sorry, i cant do it. Sorry, uhuh, it cannot happen. Well have this meeting at a later date. I look forward to talking about our grandchildren at a later date. Right. I think as mark has said many times and a lot of people said many times on this show sin the story broke, were talking about bill clinton here. Hes the former president. Exactly. Hes the former president of the United States. Hes an overwhelming personal, an overwhelming force, thats one part of it. That would be the reason you say, no, i cant have the meeting. One second. The New York Times had a story talking about this is what he
does, these tarmac meetings, thats one. Two, from reporting that was in the observer and from the reporting that ive been able to do, her staff was off the plane. There was no one there except her detail to get in the way of the president. And three, the conversation was social. From what i understand, each time she tried to end the conversation, the president started up about something else. As i write in the piece thats out today, and im sorry i didnt get it to you before we went on air, the more i listen to Loretta Lynch talk about what they talked about in the plane, when she answered questions about it in phoenix, when she answered questions about it in los angeles, when i talked to her about it on stage, which you showed, and i had another tenminute interview on the record with her after that aspend interview, its clear that bill clinton president clinton did all the talking, all the talking about his grandkids,
golf, travel, about everything. So the idea that, you know, Loretta Lynch wanted to have this conversation with president clinton i think is inaccurate to say. No, im not saying she wanted to have the conversation, im saying she should not have had the conversation. Even though he talks and talks and talks about kids, thats exactly what can appear to color an investigation. Thats why you keep people separate, juries. Come on, we dont need to go to law school to understand how bad this was. No, i understand that, mika. But also the attorney general understands that, which is why i also think shes been very transparent about what happened and whats going to happen. She didnt have to talk in phoenix, she didnt have to talk in l. A. She certainly was well within her rights to cancel this interview that had been on the books for weeks. She sat there and took the
questions. One thing i dont know if people know, she was supposed to give a 10minute speech if none of this happened she was going to give a tenminute speech on criminal Justice Reform and then sit down with me and we would have a conversation on what she just talked about. Instead that morning her staff came to me and said, theres a change of plans. Shes no longer speaking. When youre introduced, just go to the chairs and have at it. No preconditions, nothing. If none of this happened, she would have made the speech. Whats this . What are you talking about . Mika, what im saying, the original plan, she was going to speak on criminal Justice Reform. Instead of doing that she junked the speech and allowed what . She wanted to talk about this. She wanted to talk about this. As we saw in the clip you just showed, she had two things she wanted to do. Ultimately ive watched the interview twice, i listened to my interview with her afterwards
twice. I read the transcript. Its clear shes trying to do two things. One, shes trying to explain how this process works because she knows that this was and remains a disaster of Epic Proportions when it comes to the independence and integrity of the Justice Department. She wants everyone to understand how this process is working. Two, in the clip you showed, she talks a great deal about career prosecutors and career investigators, shes trying to make it clear to everyone, if they are welling to hear it, that shes not making the decision, political people are not making the decision, its career prosecutors and investigators who have been there before she got there and will be there after so that that way shes trying to make it clear there isnt going to be any political influence. So the Mark Halperin i kept asking what does this mean. He said none of this happened
she would have regular speech. This, that is the public outcry, the Media Coverage or the meeting itself . Had nobody talked about it, had nobody found out about it, would she have changed her plans in aspend . Probably not. Both said they wouldnt do it again, like Hillary Clinton said she wouldnt do her server again. There was an outcry so they wouldnt do it again. Theres two questions im till confused by. Number one, i made a decision long ago, here is how im going to handle this case. Its exactly how she handles every other case. Deference to fbi but reserving the right to overrule it. Shes making a show of suggesting this is some thoughtful, personal way to treat a politically sensitive case. Its the way she treats every case. Two, as the wall street editorial page said shes trying to have it both ways. If they dont recommend an indictment, i just accepted it, didnt interfere at all. If they choose to indict, she chooses the right to overrule. Thats the ambiguitambiguity. The sin was committed on the tarmac. Hillary clinton with diane sawyer talked about how she hadnt driven a car since the 90s. I would put this in my plane is parked next to your plane in the tarmac. You might coincidentally park next to the attorney general of the United States of america. I would put this debacle in the same category of an utterance about not driving since the 90s. Ever worked on in her life would she allow this situation to happen, she has to look at that. Also the question of, sees highlights today, president
obama appears with Hillary Clinton, which is why is it appropriate for her to oversee the case where her decision, because shes still in charge of the case, could determine who the next president of the United States is. Someone of her own party. Hillary clinton flying on air force one is another story were going to get to of many this morning. We have so much to do. Well talk about this more later but we have to get to the International News over the weekend. A series of suicide bombings in saudi arabia has capped off a string of deadly terror attacks overseas. Three differ cities across saudi arabia were robbed by suicide bombs yesterday. The attacks began in jeddah after a bomb stopped by security personnel at the u. S. Consulate. Detonated an explosive belt killing himself and injuries two others according to saudi ministry. Hours later struck near a mosque. Shortly after that a bombing took place medina, headquarters
of mosque, a site considered the second holiest in