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Speaker 1: The scope of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia's

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Speaker 1: interference in the election has expanded to include President Trump's

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Speaker 1: own conduct and possible obstruction of justice. Trump dismissed the development,

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Speaker 1: saying on Twitter this morning, quote, they made up a

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Speaker 1: phony collusion with the Russian story, found zero proof, So

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Speaker 1: now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story.

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Speaker 1: Nice joining me as former federal prosecutor Frederick TC of

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Speaker 1: Ice Miller. Fred after everything we've heard from James Comey

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Speaker 1: and from the President himself in tweets and interviews, does

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Speaker 1: this obstruction of justice investigation come as a surprise. No,

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Speaker 1: under the current political climate, it doesn't come as a

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Speaker 1: surprise in any way, shape or form. So, you know,

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Speaker 1: the question is whether or not it's a legitimate criminal

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Speaker 1: investigation of a of a of a serious crime, and

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Speaker 1: that that's a different issue. Well, how would you do

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Speaker 1: term in that until he actually goes through with his investigation. Well,

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Speaker 1: I mean, let's assume for a minute that the conversation

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Speaker 1: is what the conversation is, that's the obstruction, right, it

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Speaker 1: was what was what President Trump said to comy or

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Speaker 1: or as as I understand now, they've expanded it to

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Speaker 1: include the firing of Comey. The question is whether or

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Speaker 1: not that was an attempt to corruptly in influence an investigation,

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Speaker 1: and the irony of all this, which is when people

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Speaker 1: kind of put down the politics, certain people have the

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Speaker 1: right in government to make decisions about whether or not

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Speaker 1: investigations should go forward. Look look what happened last fall

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Speaker 1: and what's led to the bipartisan call for Comy's firing

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Speaker 1: because he made a determination that Loretta Lynch either implicitly

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Speaker 1: or explicitly decided not to move forward with an investigation. Well,

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Speaker 1: that's no. That is her unfettered right as the attorney General.

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Speaker 1: Whether she's right or she's wrong to make that decision,

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Speaker 1: that's not obstruction to justice. Let's let's go into what

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Speaker 1: the what the investigation may include. And we've seen two

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Speaker 1: top intelligence officials refused. The Director of National Intelligence and

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Speaker 1: the director of the National Security Agency refused to answer

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Speaker 1: Senate Committee questions about press reports that the President asked

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Speaker 1: them to get Comy to back off an investigation of

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Speaker 1: former National Security advisor Michael Flynn. The Special Council plans

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Speaker 1: to interview them, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

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Speaker 1: Can they refuse to answer that question to him as well?

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Speaker 1: Or does he have any kind of subpoena power, Well,

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Speaker 1: that a special prosecutor would have if there's a grand jury,

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Speaker 1: that's been to mean a special crosscutor would have the

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Speaker 1: right to Uh, the grandjury would have the right the

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Speaker 1: issue subpoenas. Now, interestingly, under rule sixty and the Fellow

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Speaker 1: Rules of Criminal Procedure and any type of grand jury

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Speaker 1: proceedings are by law and secret and they are not

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Speaker 1: to be discussed in any way, shape or form. So

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Speaker 1: this this, this, if there is a grand jury proceeding

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Speaker 1: in place under rule six e, there should be no leaks,

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Speaker 1: no nothing that people are being approached addressed. You know,

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Speaker 1: it's always been the position of the Department of Justice

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Speaker 1: that they don't confirm or deny even the existence of

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Speaker 1: an investigation because of the because of the constricts of

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Speaker 1: Fellow Rule of Chrome Procedure six and having been involved

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Speaker 1: with these types of things for years as a fellow prosecutor,

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Speaker 1: that is a rule that is written in stone. So

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Speaker 1: the answer is there maybe, and an answer is yes,

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Speaker 1: he would have subpoena power. But but well enough, um,

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Speaker 1: it's going to go on for quite a while. So

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Speaker 1: get ready, um I look at his job security. Okay,

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Speaker 1: Attorney General Jeff Sessions that he was obeying long established

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Speaker 1: d o J guidelines and refusing to answer questions about

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Speaker 1: conversations with the president. He did not cite executive privilege.

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Speaker 1: If the president does invoke executive privilege, would it stick?

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Speaker 1: In other words, would it would he be able to

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Speaker 1: stand with that or would it fail in the courts?

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Speaker 1: It would be we wouldn't get a decision on that

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Speaker 1: until we got something from from from starfleet commander. And

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Speaker 1: that's how long that that would be litigated. I mean,

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Speaker 1: there is a long standing policy. You know. The question

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Speaker 1: is was it privileged? I think it would be a

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Speaker 1: mistake to a certain executive privilege because the irony of

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Speaker 1: all this June, which is not lost on me, was

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Speaker 1: it assuming that the Justice Department actually indicted Flynn, the

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Speaker 1: president has an unfettered right to pardon the guy, as

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Speaker 1: as as Casper Weinberger was pardoned years ago in connection

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Speaker 1: with the criminal investigation and charges. So why a certain

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Speaker 1: executive privilege over a thing that ultimately wasn't material. Let's see,

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Speaker 1: you know, the obstruction of justice. We only have you

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Speaker 1: have about thirty seconds here. But though the president could

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Speaker 1: have stopped the investigation, isn't it something different if you

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Speaker 1: try to get someone else through some kind of coercion

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Speaker 1: to try to stop the investigation. Well, that's a great question.

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Speaker 1: Does the president if the president has the authority to

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Speaker 1: stop an investigation, and you see, here's the wrinkle that

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Speaker 1: you throw it under coercion. Okay, there's no need to

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Speaker 1: engage in coercion if you have the authority to do something.

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Speaker 1: So does the president have If the president has the

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Speaker 1: right to stop an investigation, does does he have the

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Speaker 1: ability to delegate that right to someone else to stop

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Speaker 1: the investigation? That's that's a different question. I mean, it's

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Speaker 1: it's this stuff is market, you know, Jim and I,

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Speaker 1: as a fellow prosecutor, I argued with my office to

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Speaker 1: bring obstruction charges against the city f a A A official

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Speaker 1: and ultimately charged him with perjury in front of the

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Speaker 1: grand jury. These cases are so difficult. That's from a

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Speaker 1: federal prosecutor. Frederic tc if Ice Miller