Analysis and discussion of the days top stories and compelling issues from Lawrence ODonnell. General under president clinton and former federal prosecutor. Julia, i will have you play a few roles for me tonight because you do also cover the Justice Department. Jeff sessions in the room with the president when he is told that Robert Mueller is going to be Special Counsel, according to bloomberg news. Jeff sessions offered his Rec Resignation in that moment. I think the idea that Robert Mueller had been appointed was pretty obvious right there. He saw the writing on the wall, that it was because he had recused himself from this investigation that this had been allowed to happen, that Rod Rosenstein was allowed to appoint this Special Counsel. The way we all see it and the logical way to see it is the appointment of Robert Mueller was because of the firing of jim comey. It was actually the president s decision to fire jim comey, not Jeff Sessions decision. But knowing donald trump and i think Jeff Sessions had a good
read on the man, he knew he would also be in trouble. We look back the last summer and the number of times we were on sessions watch and the people i talked to at the Justice Department said he will hang on by his fingernails for this job. He thought this was his last role in politics. It is one he wanted to get to for a long time. His former Law Enforcement days are some of the days he holds most dearly. And he saw this as his last big role and really his place to be able to push through a lot of the decisions, a lot of these policies on immigration and the like. He was going to hold on to it for as long as he could. He did see this would be the thing that would fracture the relationship. It has for some time. We saw the president attack Jeff Sessions just this week. Harry, the president obviously doesnt like Robert Mueller. We have known that for some time. But he does keep bringing up what he perceives as a bias that he almost offered him the fbi
director job, that he had some sort of dispute over fees at one of his clubs. Could either of those things be considered bias . So no. We already know theyre not considered because the doj gave him a clean bill of health. But it is interesting because it is the Second Mueller is appointed that sessions realizes, uhoh. Thats before all these make way charges of 13 angry democrats, et cetera. Who is bob mueller in that second that you just have the revelation that hes been appointed . He is the best, most dogged, most methodical, most honest prosecutor of his generation. Thats who he is then. Right away the problem with him is not bias. It is effectiveness. Which has turned out, in fact, to be the problem. Lets talk about manafort for a second and go back to julia one more time. Julia, manaforts trial has just now ended its first week. It focussed a lot around what we heard from the accountant today talking about how she knew she was filing incorrect taxes. But also there was that 15,000 ostrich coat, that bomber jacket. The prosecution is very clearly trying to paint manafort as a big spender that didnt care about cheating the government and the American People in order to furnish his very lavish lifestyle. How is the defense doing . Not as well, katie. Right now were seeing a list of prosecution witnesses. They lay out a pattern of who Paul Manafort is. He spent a will the of money on his lifestyle and is so desperate to hang on to that lifestyle that he was willing to exaggerate his income in order to get bank loans and then deflate his income in order to get a deal on taxes. He didnt care who he took down in the process and he didnt
care what kind of dirty characters he had to work with in order to get there. We will see now Going Forward is the defense is going to try again and again to discredit witnesses, particularly gates. We now know he will testify. The prosecution said yesterday they have ever reason to bring him forward. They want to paint him as the lynch pin in the prosecutions argument and they want to show he is not someone that can be trusted. For those reasons we actually believe that the prosecution wont wait until the end to bring up rick gates. May bring him up early next week so he isnt the last thing in jurors minds when they go to deliberate. Another thing that i dont think went over very well judging by how brief their questions were is they wanted to show that Paul Manafort had left plenty of bread crumbs for anyone that might want to look into this. That with his first accountant who has not gotten immunity because he didnt do anything
wrong. He refused to lie for Paul Manafort. He was basically able to say, yes, i knew they were working with foreign people, but i didnt know he had Foreign Bank Accounts. The defense wants to say there were plenty of bread crumbs if his accountant didnt know it, and this is important, and if the irs didnt want to do an audit and bring a civil case against Paul Manafort, why all these years later is a Justice Department bringing a serious Criminal Case . But it doesnt seem to be holding up as well as they would like, particularly because bread crumbs dont leave you directly to 30 Foreign Bank Accounts around the world. Its harder to get there. Even a pardon from President Trump to Paul Manafort might not be enough to keep him out of jail. Even a pardon may not entirely be a get owl of jail free card. There are a host of
system. And then the other reason, katie, that i would suggest might impact Paul Manaforts thinking about whether he wants to flip and provide information to bob mueller, he would also be providing information about russian oligarchs. We know the judge doesnt like that word. But what have we seen russia do when somebody crosses them . We have seen poisoning in the u. K. And i think Paul Manafort could legit have concerns for his safety. So manaforts trial is about financial crimes, but it is part of a larger russia investigation. One of the more ridiculous seeming tentacles we have news on today, the manhattan madam, kristin davis, the woman charged in the Elliot Spitzer can sdsca
many years ago has spoken to muellers team. This is a longtime friend and associate of mine. I am the god father to her twoyearold son. She knows nothing about alleged russian collusion or any other impropriety related to the 2016 election, which i thought was the subject of this probe. I understand she appeared voluntarily. I am highly confident she will testify truthfully if called upon to do so. Another stone aid has been ordered to speak with Robert Mueller. This man was trying to not speak with him. One of his aids was trying to say that the Special Counsels probe was too wide and he shouldnt have to follow a subpoena. Well, a court has testified or has ruled that he should have to talk to Robert Mueller and he should do so quickly. Harry, what are these two people how do they have
anything to do with this . And what does this mean for roger stone . Yeah. It is all about stone. Look, the madam is a theyre a colorful couple. But it is because of their longstanding friendship they are zeroing in on stone. B miller is kind of twostone as gates was to manafort. Hes the real righthand man. He offered this constitutional argument, which is a real loser, basically saying mueller has no authority to do anything, the same thing manafort tried in edva. He will have some real information to provide. But the main thing it shows is that the sights are really locked in on stone, which should come as no surprise because this recent indictment of the gru folks in russia actually didnt name him because doj policy but identified him in paragraph 44 as someone who had consorted
with him. So mueller is obviously in trying to stitch up russia and the u. S. Looking very hard at stone. And whether or not stone was a potential back channel. Julia, i know from reporting have i done with others here that the witnesses that Robert Mueller is so far spoken to, they have been asked by muellers team pretty pointed questions about roger stone. And what did roger stone know . What was he doing . Did he really leave the campaign in 2015 . Stone says he quit. The trump team said he was fired. But did he really leave or was there some sort of unofficial role that he was playing Behind The Scenes . Was he potential in contact with russia or wikileaks and feeding that material to donald trump . Why did donald trump say, russia, if you are listening, find Hillary Clintons emails. It seems like and sam nunberg
will tell you this, it seems like they are targeting stone and he could potentially be a lynch pin. Is that making too broad an assumption . This is why i love your reporting on this. But it doesnt seem that hard to connect that we know from indictments that have already been brought forward by the Special Counsel that Robert Mueller is interested in and honing in on this network of russians that wanted to influence our campaign through social media. They wanted to hack into the dnc, Hillary Clinton emails and use that information to also influence our election. And a huge piece of this is social media and the work they did through cambridge, as well as the leaks of those hacks they just talked about through wikileaks. Roger stone has a lot of tentacles in those different worlds. He was very closely tied to the Trump Campaign. We have to look across the way
theyre painting these characters, the same way they are talking about Paul Manafort and trial. These are people who have been in republican poll tiitics for time. But they havent been carrying the moral backbone of the party. They believe that the ends justify the means. I think just by the pointed questions that you have reported on, the interviews you have done, it is so obvious that mueller isnt just beating around the bush and seeing what might come out here, he is really targeting those essential questions. Roger stone was not in mainstream politics. Neither was Paul Manafort for that matter. Yet, they somehow all managed to find Donald Trumps team. Thanks for starting us off tonight, guys. Thanks, katie. Coming up, the Washington Post is reporting tonight that the alleged russian agent cozied up to a Trump Adviser the final weeks of the 2016 campaign. The reporter who broke that story will join us right after this. And later, a federal judge says he will order the Trump Administration to take a drastic step to reunite those children with their parents. Thats coming up. Gas, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea
trumps orbit than previously known. She was in jail awaiting trial after she was charged with illegally trying to influence u. S. Politics for the kremlin. Tonight the Washington Post reports that she sought out interactions with j. D. Gordon who served for six months as the Trump Campaigns director of National Security before leaving in august 2016 and being offered a role in the trump transition effort. The two exchanged several emails in september and october 2016 culminating in an invitation from gordon to attend a concert by the rock band styx in washington. I cant make that up. Gordon also invited butima to attend his Birthday Party. Joining us is the reporter that broke this story. Im sorry i am laughing but inviting her to a styx concert
and his Birthday Party is a funny story. Here is what j. D. Gordon told you tonight. From everything i have seen or read, everything i have read since her arrest last month, it seems that this is basically a sensationized bait click story trying to Scheme Republicans and nra members she reportedly encounters over the past few years. I wonder which prominent republican political figures she has not come across. I got to tell you from the photos i have seen, she has been standing next to some prominent political figures, including former president ial candidates long before donald trump got the nomination and prominent nra members. What makes the interaction with j. D. Gordon so significant . Well, i think part of it is his connection to the trump
campaign and its clear from emails that were described to us that that was a key part of why she sort of sought out this interaction. She apparently met j. D. Gordon at an event at the swiss embassy. She was with the republican operative she was apparently dating. And paul then sent an email both to j. D. And to ms. Butina after the event, reconnecting them and describing them to one another. And the way he described j. D. Was to say this is a person who is very important in the trump transition. Hes the kind of person that all the right people listen to his advice on international policy. So it did seem that the trump connection was part of why she was making contact with him. Let me ask you more about the Trump CampaignForeign Policy advisers. They were not visible on the campaign, not really. People like george pop d, these names seem to come out of not come out of nowhere. The Trump Campaign was pressured to release a list of who was advising him. And at the time, considering that nobody was answering the phone and nobody made appearances, it felt like these people were just ran don people they put on a list and sent to reporters. Now it looks like there is something more there. Given that carter was somebody that the Intelligence Community had their eye on because of the interactions he was having with russians. The one who its reported started this whole investigation because he was bragging to an australian diplomat in a london bar that russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton and now j. D. Gordon linking these two seemingly separate investigations on a russian
influence campaign. Yeah. I have done quite a bit of reporting on carter page and george p. In particular. One of the things that struck me about the two of them is they aggressively sought out the connection with the Trump Campaign at a time when, as you mentioned, the campaign was having a devil of a time finding figures they could taut as Foreign Policy advisers. We did a story once quoting Trump Adviser at the time saying, basically, anybody with a pulse was what they were looking for. Yeah. And people like carter were people with a pulse that stepped forward and said choose us. The day i saw georges picture, i was taken aback. I did not expect to see somebody so young. Harry, what stands out to you about this. Speaking of so young, shes 29. Hes 50. So we have again the sort of vanity of older man. For historians of political scanda scandals, this is the exact ages of Monkey Business time and the whole kind of younger woman, you know, using older guys to get political influence. But what stands out to me is you said it, you know, what is the defense of j. D. Gordon . I dont know if there is a prominent republican political official She Hasnt Met with. Shes penetrating anywhere and everybody she can with the help of this republican operative and, as you say, a lover of keith erickson. This is not just one week little story and episode. But she really got around. Harry, just really quickly, could this new information, they know about most things, but say they didnt know about it, is
this the sort of thing that could prompt them to call her in for questioning . Well, shes arrested, so yeah. Obviously. She will have enormous pressure on her. Theyll talk to her. But there is some figures in the campaign in her wide circle, and they will zero in like gordon. We already knew of a couple others. Thats what will interest them, the couple people from the campaign, the mass ck maskerade afterwards. A federal judge gave a reminder about the separation of the children from their parents and who is to blame for it. The fact is, there are over ninetysix hundred roads named park in the u. S. Its americas most popular street name. But Allstate Agents know thats where the similarity stops. If youre on park street in reno, nevada, the high winds of the Washoe Zephyr could damage your siding. And thats very different than living on park ave in sheboygan, wisconsin, where ice dams could cause water damage. But no matter what park you live on, one of 10,000 local Allstate Agents knows yours. Now that you