WEBVTT - Democrats' Sweeping Demands for Trump Documents

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every

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<v Speaker 1>day we bring you insight and analysis into the most

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<v Speaker 1>important legal news of the day. You can find more

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<v Speaker 1>episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud

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<v Speaker 1>and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcasts. Democrats aren't waiting

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<v Speaker 1>to learn what's in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's final report.

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<v Speaker 1>Today they escalated their own investigation of Trump with requests

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<v Speaker 1>for documents from eighty one individuals, agencies, and entities linked

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<v Speaker 1>to the president. And joining us now is Chris Strom,

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<v Speaker 1>Bloomberg News Justice Department reporter, and Chris tell us about

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<v Speaker 1>how sweeping uh this new request is. Well. The Democrats

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<v Speaker 1>launched a major offensive today against the White House and

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<v Speaker 1>anybody associated with Trump. They made a sweeping request um

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<v Speaker 1>there everything from Trump's business dealings to activities that Trump

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<v Speaker 1>was Party two while while in office. Everything from the

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<v Speaker 1>firing of James Coney to UM to the Trump Power

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<v Speaker 1>meeting with the with the Russians, to the Trump organization

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<v Speaker 1>business dealings. This is a major, major, you know, offenses

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<v Speaker 1>that the Democrats have opened up, and it's gonna take

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<v Speaker 1>months of back and forth and most likely will also

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<v Speaker 1>involve some some court battles as well. Are they looking

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<v Speaker 1>for anything different from Mueller or the Southern District of Manhattan.

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<v Speaker 1>What the Democrats are seeking as much broader than Muller

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<v Speaker 1>is doing. And we don't have a you know, the

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<v Speaker 1>clear insight into into what the s D and why

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<v Speaker 1>you know, the prosecutors in New York are doing. But

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<v Speaker 1>by all accounts, while the Southern Agist New York has

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<v Speaker 1>a broader investigation into Trump, the Democrats are still even

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<v Speaker 1>going much much broader than than what the prosecutors are doing.

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<v Speaker 1>Are they setting up impeachment at this point? They say

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<v Speaker 1>the they're just doing the fact finding. I think everybody

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<v Speaker 1>who's looking at this knows that that the that the

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<v Speaker 1>end that the end game might be impeachment. Um, they're

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<v Speaker 1>certainly not ruling out impeachment. What the chairman of the

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<v Speaker 1>committee is saying at this point is that they need

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<v Speaker 1>to collect all the evidence and figure out if their

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<v Speaker 1>war crime that can be shown, you know, with with

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<v Speaker 1>evidence or impeachable offenses. What is the criminal act is

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<v Speaker 1>might be different from what's to impeach impeachable offense, But

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<v Speaker 1>they say that they're doing the groundwork. Now, they're not

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<v Speaker 1>ruling out impeachment, but they say that they need to

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<v Speaker 1>get everything together to figure out if the impeachment is necessary.

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<v Speaker 1>So talk about some of the people who are getting

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<v Speaker 1>swept up in this. I mean what the president's sons,

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<v Speaker 1>um former aids, current aids. There's uh, you know a

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<v Speaker 1>number of different people who are involved. Uh, certainly you

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<v Speaker 1>know Don Jr. And Eric Trump and are are involved.

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<v Speaker 1>They're seeking information from from some family members. They're seeking

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<v Speaker 1>information from people associated with Trump's businesses, such as Alan Weizelberg,

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<v Speaker 1>who's the chief financial officer for the Trump organization. They've

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<v Speaker 1>got to requests out to the Trump organization itself, people

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<v Speaker 1>on the business side, people in the family, people who

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<v Speaker 1>were in the White House and might have witnessed activities

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<v Speaker 1>that could constitute corruption or obstruction of justice. Those are

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<v Speaker 1>all uh the individuals who are who the committee seeking

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<v Speaker 1>documents from. And it sets up an interesting media case

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<v Speaker 1>as well, because they're also asking for documents from the

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<v Speaker 1>publisher of the National Enquirer. That's right, uh, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>and if we remained to be seen, who's going to

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<v Speaker 1>fight in how the subpoena requests will be contested? The

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<v Speaker 1>Judiciary Committee might have to go to court in order

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<v Speaker 1>to get these documents. Is there any overlap here between them,

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<v Speaker 1>the Judiciary Committee, the House Judiciary Committee, and the Oversight

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<v Speaker 1>Committee that Michael Cohen testified to last week. Yes, there

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<v Speaker 1>is an overlap. The Oversight Committee had the first you know,

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<v Speaker 1>public hearing with with Michael Cohen, and as a result

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<v Speaker 1>of that, the chairman of that committee identified some additional

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<v Speaker 1>people that they want to talk to. One of them

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<v Speaker 1>is on in Wiselberg. Now the Judiciary Committee also wants

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<v Speaker 1>to hear from Wisberg. So I think that the the

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<v Speaker 1>congressional committees are going to have to be conflict a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit, and they're not necessarily doing that right now.

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<v Speaker 1>And then there's a House Intelligence Committee which is said

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<v Speaker 1>that they're going to go into uh, you know, Trump's

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<v Speaker 1>business dealings of in any any money that Trump received

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<v Speaker 1>from Russian as well. The Judiciary Committee is looking for

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<v Speaker 1>that information as well. So at some point the committees

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<v Speaker 1>might have to figure out how to deconflict. Certainly, the

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<v Speaker 1>people who are receiving these requests are gonna look at

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<v Speaker 1>them and say, you know, there's some duplication here. And

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<v Speaker 1>also the committees need to be conflict with what's was,

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<v Speaker 1>when Muller is doing, and what the prosecutors in New

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<v Speaker 1>York are doing. And so you know, the coming months

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<v Speaker 1>for people are are going to be sorting through who's

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<v Speaker 1>doing what and in where the centers of gravity or

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<v Speaker 1>and in the meantime, I just want to seem that

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<v Speaker 1>the President couldn't possibly step up his strident rhetoric even

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<v Speaker 1>more against Robert Mueller's probe. He did so over the weekend.

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<v Speaker 1>This being a family program, we can't really get into

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<v Speaker 1>what he called the Mueller investigation, but but the rhetoric

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<v Speaker 1>just seems to ratch it up by day now. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>certainly Trump is trying to paint uh you know, Muller's

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<v Speaker 1>investigation in the most negative lights you can and talk

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<v Speaker 1>about how Mueller is conflicted, in his whole team is conflicted.

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<v Speaker 1>It's important to point out I think that every time

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<v Speaker 1>Muhler has been challenged in court, he's one basically his

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<v Speaker 1>his authority in his jurisdiction have been challenged, and judges

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<v Speaker 1>have have ruled a favor of Muller. Certainly, Muller has

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<v Speaker 1>already indicted, you know, more than more than thirty people.

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<v Speaker 1>He's won convictions and guilty please, So Trump is, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>trying to paint Mueller in a bad light. More keeps

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<v Speaker 1>progressing along, and we do expect Maller to be submitting

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<v Speaker 1>its final reports soon. We don't know exactly when it's

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<v Speaker 1>gonna be. And that's also going to ignite a battle

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<v Speaker 1>over disclosure because it's a question of how much of

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<v Speaker 1>that report and how much of Waller's finding, because they're

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<v Speaker 1>actually going to be set the converse that they public.

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<v Speaker 1>Chris Strom, Bloomberg News Justice Department reporter, Thanks very much

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<v Speaker 1>for joining us. Thanks for listening to the Bloomberg Law Podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>You can subscribe and listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud,

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<v Speaker 1>and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcast. I'm June Brasso.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg. Yeah,