David Gura hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Wideranging conversation the two of them had. Let me play a tape here from senator Lindsey Graham, senior senator from south carolina, responding to all of this. When it comes to Michael Cohen, you should be very suspicious of anything he says. Hes on the hot seat. Mr. Cohen, if youve got something new to say, you need to come to congress and say it under oath. Everyone is a lawyer. I should say, Lindsey Graham is actually a lawyer. So he has some justification there weighing in, i guess, on what happens on the hot seat. Sara, give me your perspective on this. We have seen teases here from Michael Cohen, lanny davis releasing that tape, memobly on tuesday night. We listened to it in realtime as it was played out on cable news. Weve heard it subsequently. Whats your sense here of what Michael Cohens thinking, his frame of mind here as we approach a new week . Well, its true that cohen is in the hot seat, right . Hes facing federal charges connected with his Business Dealings in new york. So he may have reasons to want to make nice with prosecutors, want to offer prosecutors something tantalizing. That doesnt necessarily mean that what he has to offer isnt
mateo salvini, extreme right wing Interior Minister there, who wants essentially to carry out Ethnic Cleansing and all kinds of abhorrent policies in italy. And to the extent that conte is talking for him, they will find they have something in common. Sara, there is a new mpr pbs poll to the degree americans think there will be interference in the election. 57 of those surveyed think so. Give us the major takeaways from that mpr poll as we look to the mid terms 100 days away from today. I think that just shows that the public, to a large extent, is believing the conclusions of the u. S. Intelligence community, right . That russia interfered in 2016 and continues to want to do so. And as we talked about earlier, Vladimir Putin said himself, he wanted trump to win the election. And you dont have to just take putins word for it. That is the conclusion of the u. S. Intelligence community, as well. And so i think this poll suggests that voters a majority of voters believe that. The question is, how does it affect, you know, at the local level, at the, you know each race is different, right . And much of trumps space still seems to believe him on so much of what he says. But i think, at least on this issue, the findings of the Intelligence Community are getting through, and voters seem to accept them. Jeff, last question to you. Looking at the president s twitter feed today, he raised the specter of a government shutdown, a threat hes made before. That if lawmakers wont give him the funding that he wants to fortify the u. S. Mexico Border more than it is, he would be willing to shut down the federal government. How is that reverberating through washington, bearing in mind, of course, that representatives have returned home to their districts, in the beginnings of the august recess . Its a great point, david. And look, this tweet this Shutdown Threat comes days after the president hosted House Speaker paul ryan and Senate Majority leader mitch mcconnell
here at the white house. They talked about this issue of government funding. And im told by two senior Republican Leadership sources those two men, ryan and mcconnell, walked away thinking they and the president were all on the same page. They would defer all this talk about funding the wall until after the mid terms. Why . Because no lawmaker, especially those up for reelection, wants to have a debate about immigration leading up to the midterm election. But you can see here how the president , and we know this to be true, the animating issue for his base is all about immigration. And if you look at the tweet, the last line here i think gives it away, that this is a message the president wants to send. He says, we have to move to a system of immigration based on merit. We need great people coming into our country. This is a zero sum nativist view expressed by the president and his allies, that what is good for immigrants is bad for america, david. Geoff, thank you very much for that. Geoff bennett, sara mccann, my
thanks to you. 100 days away from the mid terms, a good sense of what President Trump wants to focus on when he hits the campaign trail. He says hell be on the trail, stumping for republicans, six or seven days a week, as november approaches. And he wants to focus on the economy. He is proud of one piece of data in particular, growth up 4. 1 in the second quarter. The president commenting today, quote, the biggest and best results coming out of the good gdp report was that the quarterly Trade Deficit has been redu reduced by 52 billion and the historically low unemployment numbers, especially for africanamericans, hispanics, asians and women. Summarizing the speech she gave on friday, and fewer than 280 characters. Senior analyst for cnbc. Ron, i want to start with that speech on friday, the degree to which it was a preview of whats to come. You look at the data, you know about longterm data. He was being oddly and wrongly predictive as he talked about it in that speech. That were going to see more of the same, based on what . Well, based on the notion
that for some reason, these exports will continue to grow with the furious pace we saw in the second quarter. Really, we saw 50 billion pop in this exports, because many Agricultural Producers and others are trying to get that product overseas before retaliatory tariffs. Lets speak here. They were worried that prices were going to go up so there was a push to get that stuff on the receiving end, they were worried they would have retaliatory tariffs delivered against u. S. Producers. So Soybean Experts and other things popped in the second quarter. Actually, added a full personal point to gdp. Without that, the economy would have grown 3. 04 . The president also said that this is a historic turnaround. Historic turnarounds in our economy have occurred in 2009, 1981, 1946. When weve come out of huge recessionary periods. And, again, in the middle of the 1930s for a brief period of time. This is an extension of an ongoing recovery that began in july of 2009, and is accelerating a bit. Under president obama, we had five quarters where growth
exceeded 4 . So this is really not historic in that regard. Jeff bennett was quoting that tweet from the president. Ive worked in washington, ive worked in new york. Something i always struggled with when i was in washington, why new york didnt seem to care more about things like government shutdowns, particularly at the end of the Obama Administration. There was this sense, whenever i would talk to Business People here in new york, that theyll get their act together. Theyre going to sort this out. Its not as big a burden as we make it out to be. When you read something as cavalier as what we saw from President Trump, how do you feel about the potential economic and political ramifications of raising the specter of having another shutdown . Shutdowns are damaging to the financial credibility of the finances. We have already seen the russians dump all of their Treasury Holdings in the United States. When you Start Talking about shutdowns, not paying your bills, that could shake the faith of those who lend us money. Having said that, this is also a manufactured immigration crisis. We do not have one in the United States. In fact, we have a Labor Shortage in the u. S. , so every time the president starts talking about some sort of
crisis around immigration, 1 million mexicans left the United States from 2009 until today, net. We have some obvious issues when it comes to immigration, when it comes to the refugee problems. But from an economic perspective, we actually need more workers. Our birth rate has fallen to a 70year low. We dont have enough Unemployed People to fill the number of outstanding jobs that we have in this country. And we talk about the Agricultural Community in central valley, california. When you talk about Home Builders complaining they cant find construction workers, we are short workers, not short jobs. The president in that regard has it backwards. And threatening a shut jodown o a wall we dont need and one could argue about that all day long, is also strange. No congressman as we heard earlier really wants to get in the middle of that fight right before the mid terms. I want to go back in the archives. We have a piece of tape from october of 2016. This was the third president ial debate, took place in las vegas. The president was talking about growth, then candidate was talking about economic growth. Lets take a listen to what he had to say. Were bringing it from 1 up to 4 , and i actually think we can go higher than 4 . I think you can go to 5 or 6 . Does anything that you see in the data indicate that were headed for 5 or 6 . And more broadly, hes proud of this figure. Hes proud of the 4. 1 read. And he gets to take credit for it, absolutely. It could be revised down. It could be revised up. Do people know what this number means . The president cares a lot about it. How much should we care about that one measure of how the economy is doing . Its a good measure insofar as it shows the output of the United States. The total value of the economy. This was one quarters 4 growth annualized. As i said, in the obama years, we saw five times in which the quarterly growth rate exceeded 4 . Hes talking about annual rates of growth. We have not seen extended periods of 4 growth. Number one that Export Growth we got will likely evaporate in the third, bringing gdp towards trend. And the president also on friday
said we might see 8 or 9 economic growth. Why not . 50 faster than china is growing right now. Simple economic equation, david, which im sure youre familiar with. Labor force growth, plus Productivity Growth equals gdp growth. Were lagging in both right now so to really get to 5 or 6 , we would need, in addition to the stimulus weve already seen, more stimulus, maybe less Interest Rate hikes fewer Interest Rate hikes from the federal reserve. A real big burst in productivity and a surge in the size of the labor force to get anywhere near those numbers. So most economists expect, we might trend towards 3 . But 4, 5, 6 on a longerterm basis, not a single forecast out there that looks like that. Ron, great to see you. Thank you for joining me here in new york. As the president s former personal lawyer ponders whether to cooperate with investigators, the former Campaign Chairman is about to stand trial in virginia. Up next, what to expect from Paul Manaforts trial, which starts on tuesday. vo why are subaru outback
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court is in session on tuesday. Paul manafort faces financial fraud charges in a u. S. District court, and the judge has made clear prosecutors from special counsel Robert Muellers team were supposed to keep a narrow focus on the defendants financial dealings. Joining me now is josh leaderman, nbc National Political reporter, danny cevallos, legal analyst. What can we expect when were gaveled in on tuesday . David, this is really the first jury trial we are going to see, since this whole special counsel investigation started. So there have been all kinds of Court Filings and grand jury proceedings, but we havent actually had a trial. And in this trial, we are not expecting to hear a whole lot about the issues of Potential Collusion between Trumps Campaign and russia. The big kahuna that everyone is interested in. This trial will be focused on
the issues related to Paul Manafort, former Campaign Chairman for the president , and his work in ukraine, from about 2006 until just a few years ago. And whether he used tax and bank means that were illegal to try to bring some of those proceeds back from ukraine. Danny, im going to read from the New York Times here, writing about the trial that is set to begin. Prosecutors have said they do not intend to delve into questions about collusion between russia and the Trump Campaign in this case, which focuses on how mr. Manafort handled the money he earned working as a consultant in ukraine. You heard josh talking about that, as well. How difficult is that to do . Youve got these two trials happening discreetly. How hard is it to keep them separate . Its very interesting, because Paul Manafort tried to have that case thrown out on exactly those grounds. In essence, that the special counsel had exceeded his authority under the document which mandated his gave him his mandate to proceed with the Prosecution Investigation of anything arising from the russia investigation. And i would say the judge barely allowed the case to proceed and
expressed skepticism. Because, in fact, tax perjury and the other charges that manafort faces have virtually nothing to do with the russia collusion, as we, the public understand. But because they arise from the they are a prosecution that arises from the investigation, then they are allowed to proceed. Josh, presiding over this is judge ts ellis, iii. Hes the one expressing some skepticism at the governments case early on. Tell us about him and how we can expect this to proceed. Ill remember here with all of you that the president tweeted about him after that first decision was made, expressed some sympathy with some of the points the judge was making. Thats right. And as danny was mentioning, there had been some skepticism from the judge about allowing some of this to move in this way. But the way we need to remember, this is theres twul two separate prosecutions going on of Paul Manafort. And this judge will only be overseeing one of them. The other one taking place in the district of columbia, which were not even expecting to start the proceedings there until after this trial in virginia wraps up. That one will look at other financial crimes that could have been involved. So manafort is going to be under quite a lot of scrutiny, all of this now finally starting to come out in the open in a way that the public can see much more than when this was the pretrial proceedings. We have this list of 35 witnesses, i keep hearing this referred to as a documents case. How unorthodox is it to get that list, when you look at that list, what does it tell you about the way the government is going to make its case . You have to understand something about this prosecution. Everything about it evidences that the government just wants a win. It wants to be 10. And because of that, its Charging Crimes that are easier for the government to prove. Its not charging tax evasion crimes. Its charging tax perjury. Thats an easier crime for the government to make out. They dont need to show an intent to evade. They dont even need to show
that a tax is owed and due. All they need to show is that manafort made a false statement, and knew that his tax return was false when he signed it. Of course, hes charged with Money Laundering and other crimes. But that shows me, along with the witness list and the evidence list and the list of exhibits, that the government is going to be very methodical, theyre going to keep their eyes on the ball, and really make out their light burden on the Tax Perjury Charges to get a win with its opening selvo, its first trial in this entire investigation. Danny, great to speak with you. My thanks to josh leaderman, as well. President trump threatening to shut down the government over immigration reform, even as hundreds of Migrant Children remain separated from their families. When will those children be reunited . Were going to take a closer look at that issue later this hour. Financing. Thank you very much. Mr. President , are you worried about what Michael Cohen is going to say to prosecutors . Are you worried about what is on the other tapes, mr. President . Mr. President , is Michael Cohen telling the truth . Is Michael Cohen telling the truth . Just stick with us. Dont believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. My colleagues, including one jeff bennett, will likely continue to ask that question. We heard Kristen Welker yelling out as the president spoke on the south lawn. Geoff bennett, to look at the week ahead for President Trump, we were talking with chris dickey about this visit by the italian Prime Minister this week. Thats how the week starts. What can we look for in that meeting, geoff, when they sit down tomorrow at the white house . Its really interesting, because President Trump and the italian Prime Minister on the surface dont seem to have much in common. The italian Prime Minister is kind of a softspoken law professor. But whats interesting is that, you know, italy is really grappling with these anti establishment forces that want to close the door to immigrants
and draw closer to russia. So you see a parallel there. This bilateral meeting theyre going to have will be followed by a joint press conference, we expect. So this could be the first time in at least, what, maybe three or four days or longer than that that the president might actually say on the record, apart from what he said on twitter, what he wants to say about Michael Cohen, if anything. Thats, of course, if he calls on News Organizations that are separate from the sort of friendly Media Outlets he sometimes elects to go to in these sort of situations. Geoff, this weekend the president sat down with sean hannity on his radio show and talked about his strategy, his plans for campaigning, and were going to see the president in Campaigning Mode this week, first on tuesday. I gather the president is headed down to florida. Where is he going and what can we expect there. He told hannity hell be on the trail six to seven times a week, putting a lot of miles on air force one, if thats the case. So he goes to tampa and later in the week he goes to wilkesbarre, pennsylvania. But whats interesting about tampa is that his chosen
gubernatorial candidate, a guy named ron desantis, he was down about four points back in december. Now with the president really coming out in support of him, hes up 12 points as opposed to his republican challenger. So you can really see here how the Republican Party has really been cast as the party of donald trump. At least in florida. So the point here, though, is that the president is going to be on the trail, really trying to activate his base for the benefit of the Republican Party overall. Because, again, he really wants to keep control of both chambers of congress. You mentioned that on thursday hes going to be in pennsylvania, in wilkesbarre. This has been referred to as biden country, steel country usa. The president has been hammering that point home as he talks about trade and the decisions hes made on tariffs. What does that visit say to you about his strategy about that economic message we began to see in finer focus on friday when he spoke on the south lawn of the white house . Well, you know, and this backs up what people close to the president have told me, too. He believes the tariffs issue as
it relates to steel is a winner. Whereas the tariffs issue as it relates to soybeans and the issues affecting trump states in the midwest, the big ag country, that its not really a winner in that way. So, you know, when he goes to pennsylvania, expect to hear him make the argument you heard him make on the south lawn. That america, he says, is winning again. He has really reawakened the Animal Spirits of the u. S. Economy. Thats what we expect to hear from the president both in florida and pennsylvania. The week ahead with my colleague, geoff bennett, thank you very much. Up next, follow the money, one of Donald Trumps oldest confidantes, the organizations cfo, subpoenaed by federal investigators. Who is alan wisel berg, and what information could he offer about the president . Rican red cross, and our nations veterans. We knew helping our communities was important then. And we know its even more important today. So were stepping up to volunteer more
and donate over a Million Dollars every day. So our communities can be even stronger. Its a new day at wells fargo. But its a lot like our first day. Ive been Making Blades here at gillette for 20 years. Theres a lot of innovation that goes into making americas 1 shave. Precision machinery and highquality materials from around the world. Nobody else even comes close. Now starting at 7. 99. Gillette. The best a man can get. Then you might have a dcondition called dry mouth. . Biotene is clinically proven to soothe and moisturize a dry mouth. Plus, it freshens breath. Biotene. Immediate and long lasting dry mouth symptom relief. So what are we going to do . Yes. And its all the stuff. All the stuff. Because here you never know where that company you never know maybe he gets hit by a truck. Correct. So im all over that. And thats both allen about it. When it comes time for the financing, which will be what financing . Well have to pay with cash . No. No, no, no, no. The reporter who has been on this story involving payoffs and the president is Michael Rothfeld with the Wall Street Journal. Allen weisselberg, the company handed oh every to trumps children and to him. What role does he play in the trump universe . Hes basically the keeper of the books. Hes someone who obviously is very trusted, if he is one of three people, including Donald Trumps sons, that, you know, were given control of the company. He worked with fred trump, donalds father, years ago, and basically has done donalds tax returns. So, you know, anyone who is
going to know about donald trump and money, its Allen Weisselberg. You mentioned hes been subpoenaed here to testify before this grand jury. What do we know of their interest in him . Obviously, from what you describe, he could possess a lot of information about any number of these stories that were charting here, day in and day out. What do we know, though, specifically about their interest in him . Wie dont know what they woud like to ask him or already asked him. Its possible hes already gone in and spoken to them. But you certainly could see them wanting to ask him about stormy daniels, because we know Allen Weisselberg arranged for reimbursement to Michael Cohen last year of 35,000 a month retainer. That was partially reimbursement for 130,000 he made to stormy damages, hes come up on the tape talking about you just bought rights to the playboy story. So what did donald trump know about those matters. Did you discuss with him reimbursement to Michael Cohen. Those kinds of things they would certainly want to know. A ven diagram doesnt quite describe it, having one circle on top of another and looking at how they oversecretart. Where is is he somebody who sits squarely in the traditional business part of this operation, this universe or somebody with a foot in each of the these other worlds . The latter. Basically, the Trump Organization is a company but also a very informal structure, because its like a family company. So Allen Weisselberg has authority to manage Donald Trumps personal money. He works with the kids and he also worked with a foundation, which was recently charged by the new York Attorney generals office. His name came up with that in terms of questions over whether weisselberg helped disburse payments that were really campaign related for the foundation. And hes denied that. So hes essentially involved in everything. And so thats what makes him such a pivotal figure. He was referenced this that
tape we just listened to, Michael Cohen, invoking his name. When you look at the trump confidantes or advisers, how does he fit in . The president memobly in that interview with maggi haberman, about what the red line might be, crossing it to go into the familys finances. This is a guy, dare i say, probably more intimately than Michael Cohen, could know what those finances look like. And i think as you have reported, he did President Trumps tax returns for many years. Absolutely. I mean, what i suspect is that i mean, hes clearly very loyal. Hes someone that donald trump trusts intimately. And the people who i mean, Michael Cohen being a recent contradiction to that. Castoff. Yes. Generally, they stay loyal. And so i dont think we would say weisselberg would not tell the truth. But i think that what we would expect is that he would very much toe the line to what Donald Trumps story is. And his story is that Michael Cohen was a renegade. He did kind of all of this stuff on his own. We have been told weisselberg didnt know what the reimbursements were for, because cohen was trusted to make payments for the trump family on various matters so he just arranged for that stuff with a minimal amount of documentation. So i dont know if i were trump, i wouldnt be so worried about weisselberg turning on him, generally. Great to see you. Thank you very much. Michael rothfeld of the Wall Street Journal joining me here in new york. Over 600 Migrant Children are still in limbo, separated from their parents under President Trumps Zero Tolerance Policy, days after a court imposed deadline the u. S. Government tore apart. The president tweeting today, he would shut down the government if lawmakers dont acede to his demands for more money to fortify the u. S. Mexico Border. On tuesday, pbs is going to air a new front line documentary about the administrations Zero Tolerance Policy called separated children at the border. Martin smith made the
documentary and joins me. Lets start with the history, something you reveal in this piece there was a conversation happening publicly about whether this administration would implement this policy. And all the while it was being beta tested, to use a term they were trying it out here. It was being implemented before we even knew that it was. Yeah, right after the election in march, then the department of Homeland Security chief goes on television and says that hes considering this policy of separating children from their families, as a deterrent to keep people from coming across. Then a month later, he walked that back at a senate hearing. But then in the summer of 2017, over a year a year ago, they start rolling out a sort of a Pilot Program to do just that. And then by the fall of 2017, theyre doing it. As a matter of practice. And its not until may of 2018 that its made explicit by the
attorney general, sessions, on a border visit to san diego. So its been going on for some time. It gets a little bit of attention in the press. But its really not until these last few months that it really garnered a lot of attention, and outrage from around the United States and around the world. Martin, this is a comprehensive project. You go down to the border, you go to el salvador, you go to california, as well. And you sit down with the head of i. C. E. Thats tom homans, and a Pivotal Moment in this story was the release of an audiotape by pro publica, a Journalism Website of a child crying. You sit down with i. C. E. , and this is what happened. Lets take a look at how that unfolds. When you heard the tape, the pro publica published of the children wailing, what was your reaction . I didnt hear the tape. Oh, come on. I did not hear the tape. I did not hear the tape. I cant believe that. Ive heard many children cry in my 34 years. I dont need to hear children cry. Can i play it for you . Yeah. [ crying ] thats a young girl who asked to call her aunt. She wants to call her aunt, she has the number memorized. [ crying ] what happens next, martin, and what does it say about the tension you sort of see coming across in your conversations, yes with folks from the trump administration, folks who backed this policy, but also folks in the Obama Administration who were reckoning with an influx of young migrants just a couple years ago. Thats right. Well, i mean, he listens to that tape, and i sincerely now believe that he had not bothered to listen to it. I mean, im sure he was aware of it, it was in the headlines for days. But he looked shaken when he came back up from listening to that tape. But, you know, hes a law man, and he thinks of this in very Black And White terms, and that is if theres a law that says you cant enter the United States, except at designated ports of entry, anybody entering anywhere else and applying for
asylum, which they have a right to do under u. S. And international law, any of those people, as far as hes concerned, need to be arrested, detained, separated from their children. Hes a law man. He thinks in terms of Black And White. And thats really the approach of the administration. To see this as an you know, a choice between open borders, which they accuse all democrats of supporting, which is an exaggeration, and this Zero Tolerance Policy. In fact, theres a lot of other options in between that could create a humane process for granting people asylum. I mean, the governments own statistics show that the majority of these people coming across are fleeing violence in Central America and have a right a legitimate right, a credible fear, as they say, of violence. Ask therefore a right to asylum. One of the Extraordinary Services in this piece, i think,
martin, if i may be so bold as to suggest, we have heard from those who have come here to seek asylum. There have been a number of events where the president will speak alongside those who have children or relatives killed by immigrants. You hear from a lot of people in your piece who have made that journey, and it is a difficult journey to the United States. And they have come for dramatic and sobering reasons. A lot of them fear for their lives, and we use the phrase push factors, something we hear from folks who shape policy in washington, d. C. What did you learn about those push factors in putting this piece together, about what drives people to make journeys of many hundreds, if not thousands of miles through great difficulty to get here to the United States . Yeah, i mean, i went down to salvador. I met with a man who had come up here with his 6yearold daughter. He had been in a soccer match, a fight broke out over some kind of dirty play. Thats normal enough. But whats not normal is that in a place like that, that ends up
with a death threat, because the guy he got in an argument with was the brother of a gang leader from the 18th street gang. And threatened him and his daughter. And he decided to make this very difficult journey. And, you know, you make that point. Its very valid. These people not only are fleeing violence, but they have to run a gauntlet. Those from Salvador Cross Guatemala into mexico. And once in mexico, its there are many of them that dont make it. Theyre either deported by the mexican police, back to their home country, or some of them die on the way. Theres a lot of Human Traffickers that are affiliated with drug cartels. Its a very dangerous journey. You have to really want and be driven to take that risk. I commend this documentary to everybody. Airs this coming tuesday on pbs. The latest front line documentary. Martin smith, thank you for the time. I appreciate it. David, thank you. She went to jared. Up next, who President Trump says his daughter ivanka could have wound up marrying if she did not say i do to jared kushner. You shouldnt be rushed into booking a hotel. With expedias addon advantage, booking a Flight Unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. Addon advantage. Only when you book with expedia. Addon advantage. But i am a simple farmer. Bas my life is here. [telephone ring] ahoyhoy. Alexander graham bell here. No, no, my number is one, you must want two two, i say like my father before. [telephone ring] like my father before. Ahoyhoy as long as people talk too loudly on the phone, you can count on geico saving folks money. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. We love tom brady. We love tom brady. Right . But tom is a great friend of mine. Hes a great guy. Said the nicest things about me. You know, in massachusetts, my poll numbers went up like 25 points, because tom brady said trump is great. Well, some memories there of
then candidate donald trump back in 2016. Now fast forward to today, and the president is comparing the fivetime super bowl champion to his soninlaw in a joke. The New York Times reports President Trump has joked several times, he could have had tom brady as a soninlaw, but instead the president said, according to five people who heard the zinger from the president , i got jared kushner. Jared kushner and his wife, the president s daughter, are facing growing scrutiny. President trumps soninlaw has fallen out of favor with the president. The president telling aides, recently again, according to the times, jared hasnt been so good for me. We have the host of entertainment weekly, and covered first Family Dynamics in the past. Joins me now with her unique perspective on this. Lets start with the joke. Which is in many ways the headline for this piece. What do you make of it, topping this piece about the dynamic theyve had with the president and his administration . Donald trump has this weird,
obsessive bromance with tom brady. They have known each other since 2002 when tom brady was a judge at one of his pageants and remained friends ever since. They have golfed together, talked on the phone regularly. Tom has said in interviews that the president has called him to wish him luck on a game or give him a pep talk during games. So they have a closeness that has existed for the better part of more than a decade. But its clear if he had his choice, tom brady would be his soninlaw and not jared kushner. It also seems to suggest that tom brady and ivanka may have dated, with i is very interesting. Because the idea that we know this much about ivankas love life is truly problematic. I mean, earlier this year, quincy jones said in an article with new York Magazine this is crazy, yeah. That he dated ivanka trump and Tommy Hilfiger set them up. So we idea that we know she dated quincy jones and tom brady is bizarre to me. Given that we dont know
anything about what jared and ivanka do on a daytoday basis in the white house. Lets talk a bit about that. The President Donald Trump becomes the president and a lot of folks, i think its fair to say, had some faith these two would be a moderating influence. I dont know on what that was based, perhaps the friends they kept here in new york. Whatever. We havent seen that play out. We havent we dont really get the sense they have the ear of the president in a way theyre able to convince him to do things hes hellbent on doing. No, that was conventional wisdom at the time. They havent done anything to moderate his behavior or temper his behavior. In fact, they seem to have emboldened President Trump, not in any way deemed have been effective in any way tempering his behavior. But i want to take issue with the fact that an article like this even exists, david. The fact that were normalizing the fact that trump is running his office, running the presidency, like its a mom and pop joint. This is not the family pizza parlor. This is not the Family Hardware store. This is america. Making your daughter and
soninlaw the two most powerful people in your cabinet, thats the stuff of thirdworld dictatorships, not the stuff of firstworld democracies. That is hugely problematic, and we should be up in arms about this. They should not be celebrated on the front page of the New York Times. Im going to stroke my impish beard here and engage in media criticism. Stroke that beard of yours. There is a line in this piece about how these two are notoriously mediashy. Correct. And what you have here is an article that is many hundreds of words long. This is a big splash in the New York Times. At least 2,000 words. They didnt participate, but they suggested to these two reporters, maggi haberman, to katie rogers, they talked to, steven mnuchin. What does it say to you about their approach to their image, what theyre hoping to get out of this, not to be too crass about it, what their sights are set on or what the future is . I think if you read this piece closely, its setting them up to be public figures again. The piece points out they have retreated in recent months, because they have been under severe scrutiny. But the piece fails to address the fact that jared and ivanka made 82 million last year, at least. 19 million from Business Ventures and 80 million in real estate alone. This piece does not mention that at all. They say, quote, they have been valuable and effective partners. What have they done . What projects have they worked on with Steve Mnuchin . We have absolutely no idea. The fact they have made this much money in 2017 alone, and we still dont know their relationship their daytoday with the president and what exactly happens in the white house, what their job qualifications are. We have no idea what theyre doing there. And were just positioning this as if its normal. Its not normal. Its the definition of abnormal. Well leave it there. Lola, thank you very much. Stroking my impish chin. Its making a thing. Its making a thing. And well be right back
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