WEBVTT - Trump Demands To Meet Anonymous Whistle-blower

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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. As President Trump

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<v Speaker 1>is demanding to meet the anonymous whistle blower who complained

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<v Speaker 1>about Trump's request that Ukraine investigate his political opponent, how

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<v Speaker 1>Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling on the White House to

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<v Speaker 1>cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, and at the Texas Tribune

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<v Speaker 1>Festival in Austin Saturday, Pelosi said that she decided to

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<v Speaker 1>launch the inquiry into the president's call with Ukraine based

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<v Speaker 1>on the facts. People say, you have taken political risk

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<v Speaker 1>doing that. That doesn't matter. That doesn't matter because we

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<v Speaker 1>cannot have a president of the United States undermining his

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<v Speaker 1>oath of office. Joining me A Brad Moss, a partner

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<v Speaker 1>with the law firm Mark Z. The firm represents the

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<v Speaker 1>whistle blower, but Brad has been walled off from that matter.

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<v Speaker 1>So Brad, President Trump has demanded to meet the whistle

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<v Speaker 1>blower and provide and the people who provided him information.

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<v Speaker 1>Is it possible to complete an impeachment inquiry without exposing

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<v Speaker 1>the identity of the whistle blower? Of course, And the

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<v Speaker 1>president here is confusing what would happen in a criminal

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<v Speaker 1>proceeding which he has been immunized from by virtue of

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<v Speaker 1>a d o J opinion that says a sitting president

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<v Speaker 1>camp be indicted from what happens in the impeachment process.

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<v Speaker 1>There is no sixth Amendment right to confront your user

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<v Speaker 1>in the impeachment process. And this is very much, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's a standard for Donald Trump, who you know, likes

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<v Speaker 1>to view himself as a street fighter and a counterpuncher.

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<v Speaker 1>He wants to try to intimidate the individuals the side

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<v Speaker 1>of the individual who came forward this particular whistle blower.

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<v Speaker 1>He also wants to intimidate whoever provided information to the whistleblower,

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<v Speaker 1>something that would be a gross abuse of his authority

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<v Speaker 1>and power, because ultimately those individuals work for the executive branch,

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<v Speaker 1>and he's the head of the executive branch. The president

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<v Speaker 1>is going to have to learn the going to have

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<v Speaker 1>to deal with the fact that by virtue of being president,

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<v Speaker 1>it doesn't make him into an autocrat. He has to

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<v Speaker 1>still comply with certain rules, and he's gonna be dealing

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<v Speaker 1>with a separate branch of government, namely Congress. Members of

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<v Speaker 1>the Intelligence Committee and to other committees have scheduled uh

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<v Speaker 1>potentially pivotal closed or interviews this week with past and

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<v Speaker 1>present administration officials. If part of the impeachment inquiry for

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<v Speaker 1>Democrats is to convince Americans, shouldn't they be holding all

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<v Speaker 1>these hearings in public? So it depends on certain circumstances.

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<v Speaker 1>There are There is context in which I can imagine

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<v Speaker 1>some of this can't be done in public, if for

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<v Speaker 1>no other reason than there are interests of national security.

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<v Speaker 1>They have to be protected that the members theeople who

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<v Speaker 1>will vote on impeachment need to know. But that can't

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<v Speaker 1>be discussed in an open setting where other individuals beyond

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<v Speaker 1>the American public would be able to see it. So

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<v Speaker 1>you think about some of the context of some of

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<v Speaker 1>these conversations the President had with foreign leaders, efforts to

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<v Speaker 1>put certain information onto co word classified systems, and the

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<v Speaker 1>details of how that's done. Those are the kind of

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<v Speaker 1>things that ordinarily you can't get out of a govern

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<v Speaker 1>agency if you were to say, sue for that information

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<v Speaker 1>on the Freedom Information Act. You can see why the

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<v Speaker 1>ANCIS would have problems disclosing that in an open congressional hearing.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't anticipate that to be the rule. I expect

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<v Speaker 1>that to be the exception in these in peace proceedings.

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<v Speaker 1>But there is some some context, some detail that might

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<v Speaker 1>not be allowed to be provided to the public. Now,

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<v Speaker 1>Nancy Pelosi has said there's a cover up of the

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<v Speaker 1>cover up, um. But as far as we've heard, is

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<v Speaker 1>there any indication that President Trump was involved in that

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<v Speaker 1>decision to put the transcript of the call, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>into that secret code word access. So so at the moment,

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<v Speaker 1>we don't know the honest answers. We don't know what

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<v Speaker 1>we don't know. We know that the White House lawyers

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<v Speaker 1>and then apparently National Security Council officials were so concerned

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<v Speaker 1>about that call with the Ukrainians, as well as previous

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<v Speaker 1>calls with other foreign leaders, that they had started making

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<v Speaker 1>this a practice in terms of putting these transcripts, which

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<v Speaker 1>are classified but classified at a low level like a

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<v Speaker 1>secret and putting them in a specialized database that is

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<v Speaker 1>meant for some of the nation's most sensitive uh national

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<v Speaker 1>security secrets. At the Coword Classified level and is largeably

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<v Speaker 1>an abuse of that particular system and the protections that affords.

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<v Speaker 1>Whether we're not the President is aware of it, or

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<v Speaker 1>was part of that discussion or you know, provided even

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<v Speaker 1>implicit guidance on that remains to be seen. But in

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<v Speaker 1>the end, he is still the president. They all work

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<v Speaker 1>for him. He ultimately is responsible for the actions not

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<v Speaker 1>only of himself, but for those beneath him and what

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<v Speaker 1>they had to do to try to cover up what

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<v Speaker 1>he was doing. Now, the Democrats have said that they're

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<v Speaker 1>going to try to streamline this impeachment inquiry, They're going

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<v Speaker 1>to try to move it quickly. They're gonna try to

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<v Speaker 1>keep it on on the point. But you have, for example,

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<v Speaker 1>two Republican senators, Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, two senior

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<v Speaker 1>Republican senators, are asking the Justice Department for information about

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<v Speaker 1>Joe Biden's interactions with Ukraine officials and whether Ukraine work

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<v Speaker 1>with Democrats in sixteen to get damaging information on President

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<v Speaker 1>Trump's election campaign. So how difficult is it going to

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<v Speaker 1>be to keep the lines clear for Democrats. We'll sure

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<v Speaker 1>there's going to be a fair amount of counter political

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<v Speaker 1>messaging coming from Senate Republicans to say nothing of the

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<v Speaker 1>White House and its media allies, and you had to

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<v Speaker 1>expect that. But the Senate has no controls roll over

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<v Speaker 1>the initial impeachment process. That falls within the exclusive jurisdiction

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<v Speaker 1>of the House. And so the House is going to

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<v Speaker 1>do with thing. They're going to run their hearings and

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<v Speaker 1>they're going to outline the article's impeachment after that, as

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<v Speaker 1>the assume me as the set a majority. Leader Mitch

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<v Speaker 1>McConnell said today, if there are articles impeachment voted on

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<v Speaker 1>and they're approved from the House, the Senate will take

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<v Speaker 1>it up. The extent to which Lindsey Graham and Ron

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<v Speaker 1>Johnson try to run counter hearings ultimately will have no

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<v Speaker 1>impact one way or the other on what articles of

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<v Speaker 1>impeachment get voted out of the House. Just a minute here,

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<v Speaker 1>but Brad mcc Senator McConnell also said that, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>as you said on CNBC, I have no choice but

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<v Speaker 1>to take it up. How long you're on it is

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<v Speaker 1>a whole different matter. Is he signally anything there? Am

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<v Speaker 1>I reading too much into it? I mean, I think

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<v Speaker 1>Mitch McConnell is hedging his bets here to trying to

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<v Speaker 1>see how far things go. I don't think he's going

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<v Speaker 1>to try to sacrifice his own political career. He you know,

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<v Speaker 1>his relections on the line. I think we'll have to

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<v Speaker 1>wait as present, on which I'm gonna say, we'll wait

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<v Speaker 1>and see what happens. All right, Thanks so much, Brad.

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<v Speaker 1>We're gonna be doing a lot of waiting in the

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<v Speaker 1>next few months. That's Brad Moss. He's a partner at

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<v Speaker 1>Mark Say. 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 Brosso.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Bloomberg