hey, everyone. it s 4:00 in new york. i m in for nicole wallace. special counsel jack smith is a prosecutor that stays out of the spotlight. he prefers to speak through his fiings. that s why his laltest brief in the federal election case merits our attention. over the weekend, the justice department responded to trump s claims that he is immune from prosecution. what he did was within the scope of his duties as president of the united states. it s an argument that trump was taking to the courts in order to get the whole election case dismissed. the special counsel is speaking to the court. let s be honest. he s also speaking to any of us who care about the health of our democracy. prosecutors acknowledge the fact we re dealing with an unprecedented situation. for the first time in our nation s history, a grand jury charged a former president of committing crimes while in office to overturn an election he lost. in response the defendant claims to protect the institution of th
Out of our view so we don t have to deal with him. but he is going to constantly badger the senate and the senate leadership and republicans in the house as well saying, look, in a way i see his argument as a shot across the bow. for all of the intention around trying to hold me accountable, you were gutless and did nothing. therefore, if you did nothing to take care of this in the house and in the senate, then why should i be be held accountable in the courts as a nonthe president, as a free person. that chilling effect you asked about is really in the congress and in the house and senate because the question is, will he get elected, will they talk about what they should do as members of the senate that has a reach outside of that. nor anyone no longer in office.
I don t down for a second that the trump may decide to fire rosenstein or mueller. he s tried to do it before, then i think that becomes a real defining moment for nonthe trump presidency, for the country, but for john kelly, his white house chief of staff. if kelly fails to throw himself in front of a decision like that, i think you think he would? if he doesn t, i think he s been really disappointing. i think he s failed to tell donald trump hard truths. this would be the ultimate test. it would be a huge mistake, because i think we would have another saturday night massacre, rosenstein resigning and others resign as well. remember, during watergate the day after archibald cox was fired, the investigators went back to work. within a week leon gentlemjawor
Universe passageant in mock, questioning about who paid whom. more on that. nonthe news on any other night would be a top story. jarnd jared kushner zpied access to intelligence. the son-in-law and senior adviser operating on an interim clearance had the access downgraded after the chief of staff made changes to the security clearance system. and we learn that officials from at least four countries reportedly discussed how they could use kushner s business dealings and experience in financial troubles to manipulate him. that s according onto the washington post which also reports the countries, israel, mexico, china and uae act the on conversations. the report goes on to say that a source said top white house officials were worried that kushner was, quote, naive, and being tricked by foreign officials. i m bringing in now cnn chief correspondent jim sciutto.
Is that what you see? well, i do see the posturing certainly, which i think, chuck, you kind of expect in a negotiation. you set your standards here. but your point is right. in the house it s not quite the same as the senate because in the senate there s more freedom. your enemy today is the friend tomorrow. and so you don t make real enemies. but on the house side, because the minority has so few rights, there is kind of a different mentality over there which makes it hard and people do get harder positions, i think, there because of that. all right. let s talk about what s going on. i know there s a lot of you and other senators are frustrated. you are watching what s going on in the house. what s going nonthe white house and thinking, the senate at some point has to also deal with a plan b if nothing else happens. what is the most realistic plan b option that gets passed in the