Motive Eyed In Donald Trump's Misleading Collusion E-mail Story For Jr. | Rachel Maddow

DIFFERENT REASON. CAROL LEONNING, THANK YOU VERY
MUCH. IN TERMS OF HOW THIS "WASHINGTON
POST" REPORTING RELATES TO THE OBSTRUCTION INVESTIGATION THAT'S
UNDERWAY AT THE FBI, I WANT TO BRING IN BARBARA McQUAID, FORMER
U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN.
ALL RIGHT, WELL, MISS McQUAID, FIRST OF ALL, THANK YOU SO MUCH
FOR JOINING US.US. >> MY PLEASURE, JOY.
THANKS FOR HAVING ME. >> JUST YOUR INITIAL THOUGHTS ON
LEARNING THAT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES ACTUALLY
CREATED AND DICTATED THE TALKING POINT THAT DONALD TRUMP JR.
WOULD THEN USE TO EXPLAIN THIS MEETING WITH SEVERAL RUSSIAN
NATIONALS. >> WELL, THE STATEMENT, OF
COURSE, TURNED OUT TO BE MISLEADING, BASED ON WHAT WE
LATER LEARNED ABOUT IT. AND ALTHOUGH IT'S NOT A CRIME TO
LIE TO THE MEDIA OR THE PUBLIC IN ANY WAY, THE STORY IS
NONETHELESS VERY SIGNIFICANT. BECAUSE IT COULD PROVIDE
ADDITIONAL EVIDENCE TO THE SPECIAL COUNSEL, ROBERT MUELLER,
IN AN OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE INVESTIGATION.
A KEY ELEMENT IN OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE IS THAT A PERSON ACTED
CORRUPTLY. CORRUPTLY MEANS BAD PURPOSE.
SO IF WE SEE PRESIDENT TRUMP TRYING TO HIDE THE TRUTH
REGARDING HIS CAMPAIGN'S INVOLVEMENT WITH THE RUSSIA
CAMPAIGN, THEN HIS EFFORTS TO END THE INVESTIGATION WITH JAMES
COMEY TAKES ON SOME OF THAT BAD PURPOSE, MORE EVIDENCE OF THAT
BAD PURPOSE. SO I THINK THIS IS A VERY
SIGNIFICANT STORY. >> AND THE IMPLICATION -- I
DON'T KNOW IF IT STRIKES YOU THE SAME WAY, THE IMPLICATION SEEMS
TO ME THAT DONALD TRUMP, AT LEAST, AND HIS ADVISERS KNEW THE
ACTUAL CONTENTS -- KNEW WHAT THAT MEETING WAS ABOUT AND
DECIDED TO USE A DIFFERENT STORY, UNLESS HE SIMPLY DIDN'T
TALK TO DONALD TRUMP JR., DIDN'T TALK TO JARED KUSHNER, AND
INVENTED A REASON AND IMPOSED IT ON TRUMP JUNIOR.
DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE? >> I WOULD THINK THAT ROBERT
MUELLER WOULD WANT TO TRY TO GET TO THE BOTTOM OF IT BY TALKING
TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS HE COULD. BUT THE FACT THAT DONALD TRUMP
IS OUT THERE, MISLEADING THE PUBLIC, IS WHAT PROSECUTORS
REFER TO AS CONSCIOUSNESS OF GUILT EFFORT.
IF YOU'RE OUT THERE TELLING A STORY THAT LATER TURNS OUT TO BE
NOT TRUE, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE BEGIN TO ASK, WHAT WERE THE MOTIVES
FOR THAT? AND ONE MOTIVE MIGHT BE, YOU
WERE TRYING TO CONCEAL THE TRUTH, BECAUSE YOU KNOW YOU ARE
GUILTY OF A CRIME. >> AND DOES THIS NOW SET UP A
POTENTIAL FOR ROBERT MUELLER TO WANT TO INTERVIEW DONALD TRUMP,
TO FIND OUT WHETHER HE KNEW THE CONTENTS OF THOSE E-MAILS WHEN
HE INVENTED THIS TALKING POINT? >> WELL, I'M SURE HE WOULD LOVE
TO ASK HIM THAT QUESTION, BUT MY GUESS IS HE WILL REFRAIN FROM
DOING SO. TYPICALLY WHAT YOU WANT TO DO IN
AN INVESTIGATION IS GATHER AS MUCH INFORMATION AS YOU CAN FROM
DOCUMENTS AND LOWER LEVEL PARTICIPANTS IN A CONSPIRACY TO
LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, SO IF AND WHEN YOU HAVE THE
OPPORTUNITY TO CONFRONT SOMEONE WHO MIGHT BE CONSIDERED THE VERY
BIG FISH IN A CASE LIKE THIS, YOU WOULD HAVE IT.
SO MY GUESS IS HE WOULD REFRAIN FROM DOING THAT AT THIS POINT.
BUT AT SOME POINT, HE MAY VERY WELL WANT TO ASK THOSE
QUESTIONS. >> THE FOUR PEOPLE WHO ARE
INVOLVED HERE. YOU HAVE PAUL MANAFORT, THE
CAMPAIGN CHAIRMAN AT THE TIME. JARED KUSHNER, WHO'S IN CHARGE
OF THE DIGITAL AND OTHER ASPECTS OF THE CAMPAIGN, AND YOU HAVE
DONALD TRUMP JR. ALL THREE RECEIVED THIS E-MAIL.
IT WAS IN THEIR INBOX. IT BOUNCED BACK AND THEY ALL GOT
IT AND IT HAD THAT HEADLINE,
RUSSIA, CLINTON, HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL.
WOULD ROBERT MUELLER WANT TO INTERVIEW EACH OF THEM AND LOOK
FOR DISCREPANCIES IN THEIR STORIES OR IN WHAT DONALD TRUMP
SAYS LATER. AND IF THERE ARE DISCREPANCIES,
WHAT WOULD BE THE CONSEQUENCES? >> I KNOW JARED KUSHNER GAVE THE
STATEMENT, HE RECEIVES MANY E-MAILS A DAY AND DIDN'T READ
ALL THE WAY DOWN THROUGH THE CHAIN.
BUT THE SUBJECT LINE ITSELF SAID "RUSSIA, CAMPAIGN, PERSONAL AND
CONFIDENTIAL," SO IT HAD SOME RED FLAGS THERE THAT I THINK IS
VERY DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE TO IGNORE.
AND I THINK SOMEONE WHO IS SEEKING TO LEARN THE TRUTH WOULD
WANT TO ASK ALL THREE OF THEM ABOUT THAT.
AND, YOU KNOW, IT IS A CRIME TO PROVIDE A FALSE STATEMENT TO
INVESTIGATORS OR TO COMMIT PERJURY.
AND SO IF THE STORIES DON'T MATCH UP, THAT WOULD CERTAINLY
BE CAUSE FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION, TO TRY TO FIGURE
OUT WHICH ONE'S TRUE. AND WHICH ONE MIGHT BE MAKING A
FALSE STATEMENT. >> WOW, THE HEAT JUST GOT
HOTTER. BARBARA McQUADE, THANKS SO MUCH
FOR YOUR TIME TONIGHT. >> THANK YOU VERY MUCH, JOY.
>> TO RECAP WHERE WE ARE RIGHT NOW ON THIS MEGANEWS TONIGHT, A
BOMBSHELL REPORT FROM "THE WASHINGTON POST" THIS EVENING,
REPORTING THAT DONALD TRUMP
HIMSELF DICTATED THE MISLEADING STATEMENT INITIALLY RELEASED BY
HIS SON, DONALD JR., ABOUT HIS MEETING WITH A RUSSIAN LAWYER
LAST SUMMER. DURING THE CAMPAIGN.
BUT THAT'S NOT THE ONLY BIG BREAKING NEWS TONIGHT OUT OF THE
WHITE HOUSE. WE ALSO LEARNED TODAY OF A
STAFFING SHAKE UP THAT SET A NEW RECORD.
WE ARE QUITE LITERALLY IN UNPRECEDENTED TERRITORY RIGHT
NOW. THE VERY LATEST ON THE
SHORTEST-SER

Motive Eyed In Donald Trump's Misleading Collusion E-mail Story For Jr. | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

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