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Speaker 1: Well, now it's time for our daily Bloomberg Law Brief,

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Speaker 1: exploring legal issues in the news, and the Law Brief

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Speaker 1: is brought to you by American Arbitration Association, International Trade

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Speaker 1: or Business Dispute Resolve Faster with the International Center for

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Speaker 1: Dispute Resolution, the leader in alternative dispute resolution around the world,

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Speaker 1: i c d R dot org. Today, Bloomberg Law host

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Speaker 1: Michael Best discusses FBI Director James Comey's testimony before Congress

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Speaker 1: over Russian interference in the twenty six election. He speaks

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Speaker 1: with Andrew Kent, professor at Fordham University Law School, and

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Speaker 1: Chris Edelson, Assistant Professor of Government and director of the Politics,

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Speaker 1: Policy and Law Scholars Program at American University. Chris, when

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Speaker 1: you talk about something that touches off pon the way

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Speaker 1: the election was conducted and the FBI director said it's

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Speaker 1: going to go wherever it takes him, you know, is

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Speaker 1: this the kind of thing that could really infiltrate the

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Speaker 1: White House? I have no idea, and to be really clear,

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Speaker 1: we don't know this. And this is one of the

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Speaker 1: things that drives me crazy about this. To have this

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Speaker 1: hanging over presidents in what the ninth week was in

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Speaker 1: a station. To have this hanging over an administration is

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Speaker 1: not fair to the administration. We have to sort this

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Speaker 1: out otherwise, well, I'll keep asking these questions and we

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Speaker 1: simply don't know the answer. So I'm sympathetic. Director called

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Speaker 1: me saying these things. Say time he was asked about this,

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Speaker 1: and I think someone asked at one point, you know,

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Speaker 1: it's typical for this, and he said, there is no

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Speaker 1: typical and of course this is an unusual investigation. But

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Speaker 1: we really need to get this sorted out. And I

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Speaker 1: don't mean to look easy for me to say that,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, you know, what he's looking at and

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Speaker 1: what's involved, but it's really important because as long as

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Speaker 1: this hangs out there, we'll be asking questions and we

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Speaker 1: we just don't know. Of course, he's going to take

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Speaker 1: the investigation where it leads. Does that mean it involves

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump? Not that I know of, but you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm not involved. I don't know. We need to get

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Speaker 1: this sorted out because it's not fair to the administration,

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Speaker 1: it's not fair to the country. Well, there are a

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Speaker 1: lot of ways to sort you know that we investigate

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Speaker 1: things in the United States, The FBI is one of

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Speaker 1: the agencies that does it. But Andrew, you know, Congress

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Speaker 1: also has a role investigating issues like this. UM. Do

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Speaker 1: you think that the FBI director's testimony will have any

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Speaker 1: impact on whether on Congress's ability to go forward or

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Speaker 1: willingness to do so in investigating these allegations. You know,

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Speaker 1: I don't know if Director Comey's appearance will have that effect.

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Speaker 1: He was very cautious and sober and measured and careful. UM.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, I think the spectacle of seeing um, so

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Speaker 1: many Republican representatives on the Intelligence Committee, UM almost seeming

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Speaker 1: angry that that a counter intelligence investigation was going on.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you know, someone like Representative Turner, who was

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Speaker 1: talking a lot near the end. Uh. They seem quite

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Speaker 1: upset almost that the FBI was investigating Russian interference in

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Speaker 1: our elections. And we're absolutely, you know, outraged about the

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Speaker 1: leaks about Michael Flynn. UM. You know, the intensity of

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Speaker 1: the of the partisanship here is is pretty strong. And

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Speaker 1: of course, if the shoe were on the other Florid,

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Speaker 1: if we're talking about you know, Hillary Clinton campaign possibly colluding,

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Speaker 1: you know, I imagine that would be a bunch of Democrats.

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Speaker 1: Who are you leaping to her defense too. And that's

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Speaker 1: Andrew Kent, Professor at Fordham University Law School, and Chris Edelson,

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Speaker 1: Assistant Professor of Government and director of the Politics, Policy

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Speaker 1: and Law Scholars Program at American University, speaking with Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Law host Michael Best. You can listen to Bloomberg Law

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Speaker 1: weekdays at one pm Wall Street Time here on Bloomberg Radio.

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Speaker 1: And that's this morning's Bloomberg Law Brae. If you can

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Speaker 1: find more legal news at Bloomberg Law dot com and

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Speaker 1: research and business development tools there as well. Visit Bloomberg

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Speaker 1: Law dot com and Bloomberg BNA dot com for more

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Speaker 1: information s and p futures. Up four points. This is

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Speaker 1: daybreak