Speaker 1: In May, a long time Republican activist named Peter Smith
Speaker 1: told The Wall Street Journal that during the Trump campaign
Speaker 1: he had tried to obtain Hillary Clinton's emails from Russian hackers.
Speaker 1: Shortly after revealing his attempt to do so, he apparently
Speaker 1: killed himself in a hotel room. And now the Journal
Speaker 1: reports that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into possible Trump
Speaker 1: campaign collision with Russia has focused on whether Flynn was
Speaker 1: working with Smith to get the emails from these Russian hackers,
Speaker 1: although there doesn't appear yet to be evidence that her
Speaker 1: server was actually hacked. And today the Washington Post reports
Speaker 1: that President Trump's real estate company before he was president,
Speaker 1: was trying to do a deal for a development of
Speaker 1: a tower in Moscow while Trump was campaigning and just
Speaker 1: before the Republican primaries. Here to talk with us about
Speaker 1: these very interesting developments in the investigation into the Trump campaign.
Speaker 1: His William Banks, director of the Institute for a National
Speaker 1: Security and counter Terrorism at Syracuse University College of Law, Bill,
Speaker 1: this is kind of a strange story, but we're back
Speaker 1: again with um former National Security Director Flynn at the
Speaker 1: center of this investigation, and what exactly are they looking
Speaker 1: at here. Well, it's true that that the Flynn dimensions
Speaker 1: of the investigation seemed to have more alarms than an octopus.
Speaker 1: It it's this is a this is probably an effort
Speaker 1: by Peter Smith and now deceased operatives to make some
Speaker 1: kind of contact, meaningful contact with the Trump administration to
Speaker 1: get them interested in in the Clinton and d n
Speaker 1: C emails that he thought he could get. And Flynn
Speaker 1: was at least one of the persons that he allegedly contacted,
Speaker 1: and apparently, according to what he said to someone before
Speaker 1: he died, that Flynn was willing to work with him
Speaker 1: to make those emails available to the media and then
Speaker 1: could damage the Clinton campaign. If that's true, of course,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a bombshell. We It's going to be
Speaker 1: hard to know since Smith is deceased. Uh, and we'll
Speaker 1: we'll see what Flynn himself is going to say about this.
Speaker 1: I don't believe he said anything that we have access
Speaker 1: to at this point. Bill, what's the law here? What
Speaker 1: what sort of conduct would potentially be a crime if,
Speaker 1: if indeed Michael Flynn has done something. Yeah, So there
Speaker 1: are a couple of things I think that are primarily
Speaker 1: in interest one, of course, is general criminal conspiracies laws
Speaker 1: in the United States and in all fifty states that
Speaker 1: if Flynn was was conspiring with with Smith or anyone else, UH,
Speaker 1: towards for example, theft of material simple theft or computer crimes,
Speaker 1: computer theft, he would be criminally culpable there and and
Speaker 1: more in the in the larger scheme of things. Of course,
Speaker 1: the Muller investigation from the beginning has been about potential collusion,
Speaker 1: and this would be additional evidence of potential collusion involving
Speaker 1: the campaign in particular, UH, a general Flynn bill. You know,
Speaker 1: the Washington Post reported about Trump's company trying to do
Speaker 1: a tower in Moscow. Um. The president uh, in the
Speaker 1: middle of the campaign was you know, after that had
Speaker 1: been quoted as saying, um, that he had zero dealings
Speaker 1: with Russia. You've now got this stuff with Flynn. We
Speaker 1: we get these periodic things in the press about what's
Speaker 1: going on with the investigation. When you put them all together,
Speaker 1: how serious is this looking for the president right now? Well,
Speaker 1: it's still hard to tell about how serious it looks
Speaker 1: to the president himself. I think we're clearly up the
Speaker 1: chain of several of his advisers being implicated here of
Speaker 1: course Flynn and and Bannon and uh and the other
Speaker 1: Smith who was an earlier engaged in the campaign. Whether
Speaker 1: it stands to the president is still very hard to say.
Speaker 1: He's you know, he's been pretty opaque about his his
Speaker 1: dealings there, and he's made a lot of denials. But
Speaker 1: the investigators aren't dogged here, and they're gonna work pretty hard. Uh.
Speaker 1: This is this is by no means finished and by
Speaker 1: no means a slipshot investigation. So we're hearing bits and pieces,
Speaker 1: but it will all come together here or not in
Speaker 1: the two distant future. I think we bill specifically as
Speaker 1: to the term tower in Moscow, I'm curious as to
Speaker 1: what you make of it. Um, it feels a little
Speaker 1: bit like a political bombshell because the president been saying
Speaker 1: he didn't have any ties with Russia. But is there
Speaker 1: a significant legal implication here and not know that probably
Speaker 1: isn't unless there are some kind of quick procoel arrangement
Speaker 1: you know in the in the and what we think
Speaker 1: of as in bribery. You know, if you if you
Speaker 1: build your hotel over here and will assist your campaign
Speaker 1: by providing on on your opposition, that would be another evidence,
Speaker 1: additional evidence of of pollusion and also of underhanded dealings
Speaker 1: and trying to win the election as a candidate. That
Speaker 1: there's no evidence to that effect so far as we know. Well,
Speaker 1: we'd like to. If you're building a hotel, that's all.
Speaker 1: You know. He's building a hotel and looking for favors.
Speaker 1: Businesses do that all the time. Well, this is often
Speaker 1: the case with investigations. Uh, A lot remains to be seen.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be interesting to see what, if anything comes
Speaker 1: together here and how far up in the Trump administration,
Speaker 1: if there is any any findings of criminality, how far
Speaker 1: up it goes, and what the president's involvement was. But
Speaker 1: at this point we still have to wait. Our thanks
Speaker 1: to Bill Banks, the director of the Institute for National
Speaker 1: Security and counter Terrorism at Syracuse University College of Law,