2 00 p. M. In washington where today the president s lawyers are scrambling to clarify his tweets. It is unusual since the president s lawyers dont respond so quickly to clarify anything, he says, which makes you wonder if the tweet in question got them worried. In a series of official president ial statements, remember the white house has called his tweets official statements, trump called the russia probe a disgrace to the usa and seemed to demand his Attorney General put an end to it. Quote, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should stop this rigged witch hunt right now before it continues to stain our country any further. As reported in the New York Times last week, Special Counsel Rocky Mountain is keepi m rob Robert Mueller is keeping an eye on the president s twitter. No, say the president s lawyers. Katy Tur hosts coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Clinton campaign, and the indictment of 13 russians and three entities who allegedly used a Sophi
coordination between the trump campaign and the russians. that is, unless paul manafort is counting on a pardon from his former boss. manafort, who has pleaded not guilty, is facing 18 counts of tax evasion and money-laundering. he is facing separate charges in d.c. if convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. nbc s national security reporter and intelligence reporter kendell lanian is outside the courthouse. and danny cevallos is an msnbc news legal analyst. i m skipping words around, guys. i don t know why. guys, so let me first play for you what peter alexander asked sarah huckabee sanders about the president s tweets claiming that this is all fair for paul manafort and whether or not that means the president believes he is innocent. listen. the president believe that paul manafort is innocent of the charges he faces?
for quite a while. so it s a difficult thing not just for the staff, but for the president who is not i think increasingly isolated inside his own home and building. so julia, take what we have seen happen this week. how does it inform your thinking as you look to next week? what do you believe could be next, and yes, i do try to get you to answer this question every week. you do. so, you know, another thing that we reported this week, i reported along with my colleague, kendell lanian, is the fact that mueller now has enough or is preparing and gathering information that could lead to an indictment on the russian hacking that s really the heart of this investigation. it s how russia was able to gain access to john podesta s e-mails and the democratic national committee s e-mails. and the key here is, brian, and if worry looking ahead, wondering are there going to be americans, whether they re named or not, whether they re unwitting or witting, who were named in that indictment