Exploring issues that affect leaders in the U. S. And around the globe. Howard fineman, an nbc news analyst who spent his tuesday in judge ellis courtroom marveling at Paul Manaforts wardrobe. Anyway, mimi, let me start with you. Define Obstruction Of Justice and is it something that has to be done in secret for it to be a crime . Sure, chuck. I want to answer the second part first. It does not have to be done in secret. The definition of Obstruction Of Justice, there are different prongs of it, depending on whether youre trying to interfere with witnesses or tamper with evidence. Its basically trying to impede an investigation corruptly, with corrupt intent, which simply could mean youre trying to stop an investigation because you dont like that that investigation is zeroing in on you or your close friends, so it cant be it has to be for a bad purpose and those would be bad purposes. And thats why this tweet right now looks so incriminating because whats happening you believe its very
Coverage of national and international news, including breaking stories. Bookminder, executive director for citizens for responsibilities and ethics. And Midwin Charles is an attorney. President trump reacted to cohens plea this morning on twitter where he writes if anyone is looking for a good lawyer, i would strongly suggest you that dont retain the services of Michael Cohen. Okay. Lets remind our audience, the president is downplaying this. Being funny, almost cute. Theres nothing cute about it. The president of the United States is the chief Law Enforcement officer. That is what he is. And yesterday, he has been accused as a coconspirator of a federal crime, maybe multiple. So, please, let that sit in. Midwin what is your take here . My take is this is consistent with donald trump. We have seen him react this way to a varietydifferent thinks
even when accused of Sexual Assault by women. Now, what is shocking that i think all of us need to recognize on august 21st, 2018, the Trump P
Commentary, newsmaker interviews and panel discussions. Commentary, newsmaker interviews and panel discussions. Completely debunked the campaignrelated charges. Lets take a look. The general counsel for the clinton mob family, lanny davis, he had his client pleaded to two counts of criminality that dont exist. These Campaign Finance violations all over tv saying implicates the president directly. Re first, lets back up. It is a guilty plea. It is a plea bargain between ale prosecutor and a criminal. A criminal who doesnt want to spend the rest of his life in prison. That is not precedent. That applies only to that specific case. Nobody cites Plea Bargains for precedent. Thats number one. Number two, just because a Prosecutor Says that somebody violated a campaign law, doesnt make it so. Hes not the judge, hes not the jury. We didnt adjudicate anything. It never went to court. Thats number two. A Campaign Expenditure under our
federal Campaign Laws is an expenditure solely for campaign
Special counsel. Is he hoping for a pardon from President Trump . Not only is he not hoping for, he would not accept a pardon. We all knew that this was going to be used as a hush money kind of payment from Campaign Finances. You knew at the time . We knew. The conviction of Paul Manafort is another blow to President Trump and a boost for Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Mr. Manafort is disappointed of not getting acquittals all the way through or a complete hung jury on all counts. He is evaluating all of his options at this point. Its a bad day for the president and im sure he understands that. It looks like manafort and cohen only have more to say, only may cooperate more. This could get worse. I dont think he can be indicted while sitting in office, but well just have to see where this all works out. The heart and soul of this is about collusion with the russians and obstruction of justice. First of all, the House Of Representatives draws up articles of impeachment. Think of the hou
Business news and analysis. Business news and analysis. 1186, and this is 1998, it toppled 19 by august 31st. A lot of anxiety there. But then, it mostly move sideways during the Senate Hearings which began early february, ended on february 12th, 1999. Look at the chart, you can see the stock market was up to the races after that. Neil you have a good economic or market backed up. I think it helps if you are president to base of the like his. Richard nixon was not so lucky, if you think about it. If he had to kind of growth that reagan had, clinton had, he might have survived, for sure. Neil you never know. Certainly, all of these rattling barks, could it rattle your money . Sam, what you think . Hey, neil, good to talk to you again. I think that newspapers are sold on headlines, but stocks are purchased on bottom lines. This really does not affect the overall bottom line. I think it certainly is something that will be selling newspapers and causing people to turn on fox in the coming