1
00:00:03,520 --> 00:00:07,600
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. I'm June Grosso. Every

2
00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,480
Speaker 1: day we bring you insight and analysis into the most

3
00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:13,440
Speaker 1: important legal news of the day. You can find more

4
00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:18,080
Speaker 1: episodes of the Bloomberg Law Podcast on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud

5
00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:22,560
Speaker 1: and on Bloomberg dot com slash podcasts. Republican leaders on

6
00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:24,919
Speaker 1: the House Intelligence Committee are set to shut down the

7
00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:29,840
Speaker 1: panel's contentious investigation into Russian election medaling. Speaking with US

8
00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,920
Speaker 1: earlier this week, Walking Castro, a Texas Democrat who serves

9
00:00:33,920 --> 00:00:37,040
Speaker 1: on the panel, so that was irresponsible to end the probe,

10
00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,280
Speaker 1: just as new details emerge about how Donald Trump's presidential

11
00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:44,600
Speaker 1: campaign may have benefited from exploiting personal data from millions

12
00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,080
Speaker 1: of Facebook users. To not follow a lot of the

13
00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,080
Speaker 1: leads that were presented by witnesses on this and so

14
00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 1: many other things, on obstruction of justice issues, of course,

15
00:00:56,160 --> 00:01:00,000
Speaker 1: on collusion, on money laundering, did not follow those leads

16
00:01:00,120 --> 00:01:03,720
Speaker 1: is a real tragedy and a betrayal of the public trust.

17
00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:06,520
Speaker 1: For more on the story, we're joined now by Kevin Whitelaw,

18
00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:11,119
Speaker 1: Bloomberg News Deputy Managing editor from our Bloomberg studios in Washington,

19
00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,520
Speaker 1: and Kevin, it looks like Republicans are trying to unfriend

20
00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:19,280
Speaker 1: Democrats on the Intelligence Committee. Are Democrats right to ask

21
00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,880
Speaker 1: that the investor investigation continue with with now with this

22
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:26,320
Speaker 1: Facebook news? Or has the Russian probe gone on long

23
00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,880
Speaker 1: enough or or just gotten so partisan? Now what's the

24
00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:32,280
Speaker 1: point of continuing? Yeah, well, it's certainly it's been a

25
00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,600
Speaker 1: very long time since there was anything that truly happened.

26
00:01:34,600 --> 00:01:37,000
Speaker 1: But you know, bipartisan way on this panel, in this probe,

27
00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,240
Speaker 1: it started off a little bit um like it might

28
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,200
Speaker 1: go somewhere, and then very quickly deterior deterior did into

29
00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:46,240
Speaker 1: a fully partisan sort of food fight. And Republicans now

30
00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:50,040
Speaker 1: um are only are most entirely interested investigating things that

31
00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:55,600
Speaker 1: happened under the Obama administration uh bias they allege was

32
00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:58,600
Speaker 1: involved with the start of this of of the of

33
00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:02,080
Speaker 1: the Russia probe, whereas Democrats have a very very long

34
00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:04,680
Speaker 1: list of witnesses they say they never got to call

35
00:02:05,280 --> 00:02:08,640
Speaker 1: or uh they have more questions for, or who refused

36
00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:10,760
Speaker 1: to answer all of their questions, not to mention a

37
00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,720
Speaker 1: bunch of topics that weren't explored either with sort of

38
00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,920
Speaker 1: document discovery or obviously the most recent in some with

39
00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:20,799
Speaker 1: Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, which has been breaking even as

40
00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:23,480
Speaker 1: they're shutting to you know, voting to shut down the probe.

41
00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:27,120
Speaker 1: So a lot of unanswered questions. The Senate Intelligence probe,

42
00:02:27,400 --> 00:02:30,480
Speaker 1: which has been actually by partisan effort, continues and is

43
00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:34,080
Speaker 1: expected to continue for for months at least. Obviously Mueller's

44
00:02:34,080 --> 00:02:38,880
Speaker 1: probe is continuing. But at this the main value remaining

45
00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:40,760
Speaker 1: of this House probe, I think is the fact that

46
00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,679
Speaker 1: they actually did interview seventy some witnesses. They have a

47
00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,919
Speaker 1: lot of transcripts, and I think the next real fight

48
00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,000
Speaker 1: is going to be over whether any of those transcripts

49
00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:52,520
Speaker 1: ever get released to the public. And Kevin, you know,

50
00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:56,080
Speaker 1: for all the reasons you mentioned, does this committee have

51
00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:00,000
Speaker 1: any credibility? And is this a loss to anyone except

52
00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:02,959
Speaker 1: up for what they've done before. I mean, at this point, no,

53
00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:05,799
Speaker 1: the panel doesn't have much credibility. And other side, they're

54
00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,920
Speaker 1: gonna you know, they're releasing dueling uh you know reports.

55
00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,200
Speaker 1: One finds, oh, Gene, nothing to see here in time

56
00:03:11,240 --> 00:03:12,920
Speaker 1: to move on. The other says, there's a ton that

57
00:03:12,919 --> 00:03:14,600
Speaker 1: could be here and we need to do more. Right,

58
00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:16,560
Speaker 1: So you're not going to be able to reconcile those

59
00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,000
Speaker 1: two reports in any meaningful way. Uh So, as I say,

60
00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:22,320
Speaker 1: I think the transcripts that that are out there, if

61
00:03:22,360 --> 00:03:24,400
Speaker 1: they ever get released, could be of value because those

62
00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:26,880
Speaker 1: at least are primary documents that could help people understand

63
00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:28,560
Speaker 1: a little bit and make up their own mind about

64
00:03:28,639 --> 00:03:30,960
Speaker 1: some of the some of the things they're hearing. Um.

65
00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,480
Speaker 1: On the Senate side, there is still a possibility that

66
00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:35,640
Speaker 1: that could wrap up in a more bipartisan way, the

67
00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,600
Speaker 1: Senate Intelligence Probe. UM, So you know, there's at least

68
00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:40,280
Speaker 1: still a chance that some of this comes out and

69
00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:42,760
Speaker 1: by partisan way. That panel did put out its findings

70
00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,440
Speaker 1: on it's some initial findings on election security issues over

71
00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:49,760
Speaker 1: the past two days, so they're at least showing, uh

72
00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:52,680
Speaker 1: that there's still a chance of of of approaching some

73
00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,680
Speaker 1: of these serious issues in a bipartisan manner. Kevin. While

74
00:03:55,720 --> 00:03:57,960
Speaker 1: we've been covering all this news on the budget and

75
00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:01,520
Speaker 1: on tariffs on China, there have actually been some other

76
00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:06,280
Speaker 1: developments on the Russia probe outside of the House Intelligence Committee,

77
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:09,040
Speaker 1: and that is, uh, some musical chairs in the President's

78
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,960
Speaker 1: legal team in the Russia probe. But what's happening and

79
00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:15,520
Speaker 1: why is it? Is it significant? Yeah? Well, we did

80
00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:17,920
Speaker 1: we did learn within the last sort of hour hour

81
00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: and a half that the president's sort of lead lawyer

82
00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:24,600
Speaker 1: for the Mueller probe, John Doubt, has resigned UM. And

83
00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,400
Speaker 1: this Doubt had been there from the beginning. UH. And

84
00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:30,960
Speaker 1: this appears to be at least in party reaction to

85
00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:34,920
Speaker 1: the Trump's decision to add another lawyer, Joseph to Jenneva,

86
00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:38,719
Speaker 1: to his team. UM. This UH the Jennifer's Um former

87
00:04:38,760 --> 00:04:43,400
Speaker 1: prosecutor UM, former independent Council but in recent UH months

88
00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:46,080
Speaker 1: has been on the U sort of a very very

89
00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:49,120
Speaker 1: very very vocal critic of the Muller probe and alleging

90
00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:52,239
Speaker 1: all kinds of bias at the FBI injustice. So UM

91
00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,440
Speaker 1: for a team of lawyers that have been working pretty

92
00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:57,520
Speaker 1: hard to cooperate with Mueller and have been arranging, you know,

93
00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,560
Speaker 1: and negotiating over an interview of of Trump by Muller

94
00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:07,080
Speaker 1: and his team. UH, suddenly a potentially disruptive UH force

95
00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:09,800
Speaker 1: was added to the team, someone who might set a

96
00:05:09,880 --> 00:05:13,960
Speaker 1: much more confrontational tone. UH. That appears to be related

97
00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:17,679
Speaker 1: in some fashion to to Dowd's decision to to leave today.

98
00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:21,880
Speaker 1: And Kevin ted Olson, who is a former solicitor general,

99
00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:25,480
Speaker 1: a well respected litigator, a famous one of the most

100
00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,839
Speaker 1: famous litigators in the country, refused to join Trump's team.

101
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:32,799
Speaker 1: So is it do you think Doubt is leaving because

102
00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,080
Speaker 1: of who the lawyer who's joining is or because there's

103
00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,040
Speaker 1: another lawyer lawyer joining UM. I think it's a little bit.

104
00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:40,280
Speaker 1: It could be a little bit of both. I mean,

105
00:05:40,279 --> 00:05:42,479
Speaker 1: we do we do we We do have some people

106
00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:44,719
Speaker 1: telling us that that Doubt Um, you know, has seen

107
00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,120
Speaker 1: himself as sort of the top dog here and has

108
00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:51,560
Speaker 1: been UM pretty resistant and resentful when when there's been

109
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:54,520
Speaker 1: any any sort of question to that and challenges to

110
00:05:54,600 --> 00:05:57,520
Speaker 1: that in times where he felt his advice wasn't being

111
00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:00,240
Speaker 1: taken fully seriously. He's got a very very differ called

112
00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,000
Speaker 1: client to control UM. And so the decision to bring

113
00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,600
Speaker 1: in a lawyer in this way at a pretty senior level,

114
00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:07,680
Speaker 1: someone who probably also saw that it was going to

115
00:06:07,760 --> 00:06:11,800
Speaker 1: be his UH probe to help direct UM is challenging.

116
00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:14,520
Speaker 1: And as I say, Doubt and some of the other lawyers,

117
00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:16,640
Speaker 1: including Tay Cob have been working very hard to try

118
00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:20,200
Speaker 1: to figure out how to UH cooperate with this probe

119
00:06:20,279 --> 00:06:22,720
Speaker 1: in saying that cooperation is actually going to be the

120
00:06:22,760 --> 00:06:25,279
Speaker 1: fastest way to get this over with. Now you bring

121
00:06:25,279 --> 00:06:27,960
Speaker 1: in a more potentially more confrontational lawyer, someone who has

122
00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:30,280
Speaker 1: to sort of start from scratch. There's been nearly a

123
00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:34,440
Speaker 1: year of work on this probe of document production, discovery

124
00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:36,719
Speaker 1: and everything else. So um, the genniv has got a

125
00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:39,479
Speaker 1: lot to catch up on and this actually could drag

126
00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,599
Speaker 1: it out. Bloomberg News Deputy Managing Editor. Thanks for listening

127
00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,880
Speaker 1: to the Bloomberg Law Podcast. You can subscribe and listen

128
00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:50,520
Speaker 1: to the show on Apple podcast, SoundCloud and on Bloomberg

129
00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:55,280
Speaker 1: dot com slash podcast. I'm June Basso. This is Bloomberg