trump and what does this investigation stands now? i think the first thing to say is that the filings on friday, with regard to paul manafort and the district of new york talking about michael cohen and robert mueller. i thought they were less interesting if you will important than the michael flynn file earlier in the week. and what was interesting about that was, what wasn t sent there were large sections of the filingthat were redacted . that we could see what they were. the special counsel went out of his way to complement general flynn on the rules of his testimony and how hopeful he had been. and basically recommended no jail time. it was a kind of prosecutorial pardon if you will. based on high level of cooperation. the mueller and cohen filings when it - - the paul manafort
spend as much money as they want. there are no limitations. on the other hand, it wasn t disclosed and that s one of the key factors. the key word is at the direction of, which directly implicates the president and what could be a felony. so that is a significant development. but that was really in michael cohen s guilty plea last august. this sort of amplifies. chris: let me ask you about another thing in the cohen filing by the special counsel. the special counsel says in november 2015, someone who claimed to be close to the russian government offered quote, synergy on a government level to the term campaign. michael cohen says he didn t follow up but he did have a series of other meetings with russian officials but how significant is that? i think it is significant because it s one more connection. it appears that that discussion is about the trump tower moscow project. which we now know was under way and being discussed thus not
let the guys off and talking. the best that aren t talking. that is troubling. db characterization. chris: former fbi director james comey testify before to committees for a total of almost 7 hours. afterwards, he had this to say. when you read the transcript you will see we re talking about hillary clinton s emails. i m not sure we need to do this at all. chris: the republican majority have contended and what they were trying to find out and asked about flowers in this hearing - - four hours, is that there was bias in that investigation and against donald trump in that investigation. did you see evidence of that? no. there s a really important point here and that is the investigation of donald trump was completely secretive. it wasn t made public at all.
was completely secretive. it wasn t made public at all. there wasn t a width or suggestion. nobody knew about the election until well after the election is that investigation was undertaken for political purposes, it had no results. it didn t affect the election whatsoever. on the other hand, the hillary clinton investigation was very public. and many people feel director comey s statements about reopening the investigation in the latter part of october about a week or 10 days before the election, was one of the things that sunk hillary clinton s campaign. i understand the argument but the conclusion doesn t support it. the trump investigation was political, they certainly didn t pull the trigger on a. chris: the republicans are making a big deal about the fact that fbi director comey, former director said, i don t recall. i don t remember over 200 times in his testimony. do you think that indicates he
spend as much money as they want. there are no limitations. on the other hand, it wasn t disclosed and that s one of the key factors. the key word is at the direction of, which directly implicates the president and what could be a felony. so that is a significant development. but that was really in michael cohen s guilty plea last august. this sort of amplifies. chris: let me ask you about another thing in the cohen filing by the special counsel. the special counsel says in november 2015, someone who claimed to be close to the russian government offered quote, synergy on a government level to the term campaign. michael cohen says he didn t follow up but he did have a series of other meetings with russian officials but how significant is that? i think it is significant because it s one more connection. it appears that that discussion is about the trump tower moscow project. which we now know was under way and being discussed thus not