Ex-Roger Stone prosecutor Aaron Zelinsky testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that the decision to reduce Stone's sentence was made because Stone was a friend of President Trump. For MSNBC Live's Chuck Todd and Katy Tur, this confirmed their beliefs that the DOJ under Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr is being politicized so dramatically that Tur compared it to committing a crime.
Todd began by reporting that the DOJ rejects Zelinsky's assertion, "They don't deny getting involved, they just deny it was a political motivation that got the attorney general involved. He just thought the sentencing thing was a mistake and he got involved that way. They're not denying he was getting involved. They're just denying the motive, and I think that becomes eye of the beholder."
Todd's casual dismissal of "just denying the motive," which is what the entire controversy depends on was echoed by Tur, who took Zelinsky's side, "I think it’s also very interesting, he says he was told that this was political, and that he believed that the I guess the Assistant Acting U.S. Attorney was afraid of the president."
During Tur's comments, Todd interrupted to add, "He did all this in plain sight. They're going, well, they were worried about -- as Aaron Zelinsky laid out he did it on Twitter. He's been interfering with the Justice Department in plain sight on Twitter. The only difference with he and Nixon is the Nixon stuff was on tape."
Simply because the media repeatedly says Trump's tweets influenced the decision to seek a lesser sentence for Stone doesn't make it true.
Tur followed up Todd's bad point, "Good point. And he's also done so much of this out in the open that it's sort of -- it's committing a crime out in the open, it's like that." She concluded by contending that Trump has gotten away with this because he was not convicted in the impeachment trial.
Here is a transcript for the June 24 show:
MSNBC
MSNBC Live
1:11 PM ET
CHUCK TODD: Katy, the most fascinating part to me about of Aaron Zelinsky testimony that we just heard, number one it was cleared by the Justice Department so they knew in advance. They don't deny getting involved, they just deny it was a political motivation that got the attorney general involved. He just thought the sentencing thing was a mistake and he got involved that way. They're not denying he was getting involved. They're just denying the motive, and I think that becomes eye of the beholder.
KATY TUR: I think it’s also very interesting, he says he was told that this was political, and that he believed that the I guess the Assistant Acting U.S. Attorney was afraid of the president. And from the reactions we've seen a number of administration officials and conversations that I've had privately with senior administration officials that is the feeling. Don't cross the president because if you do you could lose your job.
TODD: Katy, really quick --
TUR: Go ahead. Go ahead
TODD: He did all this in plain sight. They're going, well, they were worried about -- as Aaron Zelinsky laid out he did it on Twitter. He's been interfering with the Justice Department in plain sight on Twitter. The only difference with he and Nixon is the Nixon stuff was on tape.
TUR: Good point. And he's also done so much of this out in the open that it's sort of -- it's committing a crime out in the open, it's like that. If you do it with everyone able to see it, it doesn't look like it's as shady or as sneaky when, you know, in the past—TODD: I guess
TUR:-- when somebody had done this behind the scenes it would seem like it was more nefarious. That's kind of what the motivation has been, I guess, for lot of this. The president has always said the quiet part out loud and he’s still the President of the United States. He did not get impeached or he did get impeached, he did not get convicted, I’ll correct myself on that.
