On Wednesday, CNN reported that their infamous anonymous sources were giving them hints at what questions Special Counsel Robert Mueller was planning the ask President Trump during a possible in-person interview. “Obviously the four buckets we now know about … the firing of Comey and Flynn, that statement on Air Force One, and that infamous meeting at Trump Tower,” stated CNN anchor Erin Burnett during OutFront. From there, she and her stacked liberal panel unleashed a flood of speculation.
“Certainly all four areas relate to obstruction of justice and certainly all of them, except for the Trump Tower meeting, deal directly with Donald Trump possible obstruction of justice, not other people,” surmised CNN legal commentator Jeffrey Toobin. “Those three areas, the firing of Comey, the firing of Flynn, and the statement on Air Force one all relate to trump's personal possible obstruction of justice.”
Toobin admitted that it was “very hard to make a firm conclusion about the subjects he's not asking about,” but that didn’t stop him and the rest of the panel from seemingly making it up as they went along.
CNN senior political analyst David Gergen thought that the real “surprise” was that the questions didn’t entail the collusion topic. “No conversation with Manafort, for example, or no conversations with some spooky character from the Russian side,” he said. And he was also shocked that Trump’s personal and business finances weren’t on the table, saying: “A lot of people have argued for a long time that money laundering is his biggest vulnerability.”
The lack of questions about Trump’s finances was a concern for Burnett as well. In an inquiry directed at Toobin, she wondered:
Because as David points out, the big conversation has been out there, is the President at risk with financial crimes, whether it’s fraud, money laundering, right? Never put his taxes out there, son is bragged about financial connections and getting money from Russia, the President denied it. We’re not saying these are the only topics, but the reporting is they are the four main topics.
“As I said, I think it is modestly good news for the President that the financial topics are not on there. That collusion isn't on there,” Toobin said after first replying that Trump’s finances might not be off the table. But according to him, it was “very bad news” that it seemed like obstruction of justice was the big theme “because that has always been the heart of the investigation.” Which was a strange point to make since the media have put most of their eggs in the collusion basket.
Unlike Gergen, who believed Mueller would be able to get multiple interviews with President Trump, Toobin wasn’t sure there would be one at all. “I think the odds are against, at least in my opinion, and this is not based on extensive inside reporting, but this interview will not take place at all. But if it does, I think there is just going to be one,” he argued.
In addition, American Urban Radio Networks White House correspondent and CNN political analyst April Ryan held out hope that Mueller would be diving into Trump’s personal and business finances. “Who knows, we don't know everything that Mueller is doing, but we understand that you have to follow the money trail,” she declared.
The relevant portions of the transcript are below, click expand to read:
CNN
Erin Burnett OutFront
March 21, 2018
7:05:25 PM Eastern(…)
ERIN BURNETT: Jeffrey, let me start with you. Mueller’s interview topics, obviously the four buckets we now know about, that Gloria and Pam are reporting on, the firing of Comey and Flynn, that statement on Air Force One, and that infamous meeting at Trump Tower. Does this show only to be obstruction of justice or Mueller be looking at other things which are still on the table or already has what he needs on potential other crimes?
JEFFREY TOOBIN: Certainly all four areas relate to obstruction of justice and certainly all of them, except for the Trump Tower meeting, deal directly with Donald Trump possible obstruction of justice, not other people. Those three areas, the firing of Comey, the firing of Flynn, and the statement on Air Force one all relate to trump's personal possible obstruction of justice.
Now, it's very hard to make a firm conclusion about the subjects he's not asking about. Collusion with Russia. Trump's finances. Any misconduct in Moscow 2013. Just because he doesn't ask about them doesn't mean Mueller has ruled those out completely.
(…)
7:09:11 PM Eastern
BURNETT: Do you think this interview will ever happen?
DAVID GERGEN: I think it's likely but there are going to be a lot of important negotiations ahead and very contentious negotiations before they get to that point. Listen, I want to go back to what Jeffrey said. If you look at this, clearly these four areas do include a lot of questions about obstruction and about obstruction by the president himself. And it may well be that there is some collusion being investigated here perhaps with Flynn or so forth.
But there very little suggestion, and I think the surprise here is there are no big surprises, no conversations or areas that we haven't heard a lot about already. No conversation with Manafort, for example, or no conversations with some spooky character from the Russian side. So that's a bit of a surprise. But the other thing that I think is interesting, there is nothing about his finances here. And a lot of people have argued for a long time that money laundering is his biggest vulnerability. Why? He may be saving that for later. Maybe, Jeffrey, he wants to have this get Trump in the room, get the presence of him being interviewed on topics that might be safer ground so he can save and go after finances in a second set of interviews. We’ve seen that with previous Presidents.
BURNETT: That's actually a fascinating point. Go ahead, Jeff, what's your response?
TOOBIN: I this think Mueller is going to get one shot and one shot only. I think the odds are against, at least in my opinion, and this is not based on extensive inside reporting, but this interview will not take place at all. But if it does, I think there is just going to be one. And I think Mueller better take his best shot. And I think I we might say-- we should say in fairness to the President and his supporters, maybe the reason he's not asking about money laundering is he doesn't have evidence of money laundering.
BURNETT: That's my point, Jeffrey. What do you make of that? Because as David points out, the big conversation has been out there, is the President at risk with financial crimes, whether it’s fraud, money laundering, right? Never put his taxes out there, son is bragged about financial connections and getting money from Russia, the President denied it. We’re not saying these are the only topics, but the reporting is they are the four main topics.
(…)
TOOBIN: As I said, I think it is modestly good news for the President that the financial topics are not on there. That collusion isn't on there. But it is very bad news for the President that there are so many detailed questions about obstruction of justice. Because that has always been the heart of the investigation.
(…)
