Does he believe the president, who says there's no wrongdoing here, or does he go after the president in the way James Comey wants him to do? But there are conflicting signals about what is actually happening. "It would be illegal to destroy it and it could be subpoenaed by an investigator like Robert Mueller, turned into a transcript that he would have at his fingertips", Perlstein said in the video.
Here's what you need to know.
Cuomo kicked off the segment by noting the "obvious contradiction" between Trump's statement in a tweet that he is "under investigation", and his legal counsel's contention that he is not the subject of a probe by Robert Mueller. He and his team are now assessing former Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey's recent testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, reviewing Comey's memos documenting his encounters with Trump, and preparing to interview certain administration officials - such as Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers - regarding press accounts of comments the president allegedly made to them about the Russian Federation probe.
On Friday, Trump fired off a tweet that appeared to blame Rosenstein for the appointment of a special counsel and ABC News reported that the deputy attorney general had privately discussed the prospect of a recusal with colleagues. At the same time, it could be that Mueller is merely interviewing some folks as a way of deciding whether he should widen his investigation to include Trump. He says the Trump tweet was specifically directed at a story in The Washington Post about the expanding probe into Russia's election meddling.
Now Mueller faces a huge decision. Pardoning himself, a move of contested legality that even Richard Nixon balked at?
Trump's tweet was most likely in reference to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose memo he cited as justification for firing Comey, and who had appointed Mueller as special counsel. Sekulow said Trump "thought it was in the best interest of the American people" to fire Comey.
Mueller's probe is in its earliest stages and the idea he had narrowed the investigation down to one person is absurd.
He also commended Trump's use of social media -that he could barely defend -as being effective.
Iran warns missile attack on IS in Syria can be repeated
Two U.S. officials said Iran fired six ballistic missiles during the attack - one Fatah-110 and five IRSS-1 "Zulfiqar" missiles. As per the reports, several ground-to-ground, mid-range missiles were fired from bases in Kermanshah province, western Iran .
But on the Sunday talk shows, his lawyer Jay Sekulow said that the president's Tweet was in response to a Washington Post story quoting unnamed sources and that the problem was Twitter's strict limit on characters.
"But you know how it works in Washington", Sekulow continued. "The legal team has not been notified of an investigation".
"He's not afraid of the investigation".
That being said, Barak Cohen, a former Justice Department lawyer, said there was no requirement that the special counsel notifies the president was under investigation. It's Comey who claimed that Trump pressured him to ease off his investigation of Mike Flynn, and who, as some said, laid the groundwork for an obstruction charge. In that role, Mueller is not independent - he answers to Rosenstein (because Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, is recused).
The question then arises, Would a reasonable prosecutor continue in an investigation of a constitutionally infeasible criminal matter?
Appearing on a series of morning news programmes, attorney Jay Sekulow repeatedly stressed "the president has not been and is not under investigation".
"No Chris, I said that the inve-any...let me be crystal clear so you completely understand".
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