that is our show for today. thanks for watching. "a.m. joy" with joy reid will be back next saturday. but up next, alex witt has the latest. >> i have really missed joy certainly because she's a good trend, b friend, but if anyone is going to fill her very large shoes, that is you. good job. and good day it all of you. i'm alex witt. it is high noon here in the east. 9:00 a.m. out west. and here is what is happening. push to impeach? a call for action in the wake of the russia prone be filings. >> the president was at the center of a massive fraud. >> the key phrase is directed by individual one. >> this is prosecutorial abuse. >> show his cards soon. >> we have to find out what was

going on. >> firing back, the president going after the former fbi director after transcripts of james kcomey's closed door meeting is released. and a pivotal week in the mueller probe. and new today, the debate heating up on whether there is enough evidence to start impeachment proceed eggs. -- proceedings. they are calling on robert mueller to disclose his findings soon. >> we should wait for mueller's investigation, but i would also counsel the special investigator to show his cards soon. i think it is important for the special investigator to give congress what he has sometime early in 2019 so that congress can make a determination. >> sclcapitol hill is abuzz certainly after they alleged that trump directed hush money

payments in the lead up to the 2016 election, this to two women who claim they had sexual encounters with him. the president and white house dismissing it, but now the chair is vowing to investigate whether there are impeachable offenses, congressman nadler laying out what he plans to do next month. >> i think with these indictments and filings, it shows that the president was at the center of a massive fraud, several massive frauds against the american people. you don't necessarily launch an impeachment against the president because he committed an impeachment offense. you have to look at were there offenses committed. how many, et cetera. and how important were they, do they rise to the gravity where you should undertake an impea impeachment. >> and impeachment is a political process to be tried in the court of public opinion. independent senator king has this warning. >> i don't think that there is

evidence yet available to the public where there would be more or less a consensus that this was an appropriate path. my concern is that if impeachment is moved forward on the evidence that we have now, at least a third of the country would think that it was just political revenge and a coup against the president. >> also new today, the president with his take on james comey and the former fbi director's testimony this past week before the house oversight committee. kelly o'donnell is joining me on a sunday as usual. good to see you. let's talk about the president almost predictbly with very smart words. what did he say? >> reporter: yes, the president is here at the white house today, no public e67b9ss event schedule and we've been given a lid meaning that there are no movements of the president. so that leaves time for tweeting. and his target has been one we've seen a number of times.

james comey, the fbi director, that the president fired, talking about his testimony which was behind closed doors but the transcript was released late in the day yesterday. the urging of comey comments to the committee to be made public. so let's take a look at the tweet from the president. leaking james comey must have set a record for who lied the most to congress. his friday system was so untruthful, this is a rigged fraud headed up by dishonest people. they are now exposed. he goes on to say on 245 occasions the former fbi director told house investigators he dntidn't know, recall, couldn't remember things. didn't know who signed off and didn't know christopher steele. the president there, lots of information, clearly someone collated for him the notion of how many times the former fbi director invoked the i don't

know, i don't recall. that is something that occurs frequently when people are under oath or are testifying before a committee. hard to evaluate just on numbers if there is any issue there. the president often making comey sort of the straw man that he has set up as an adversary in public and there has been criticism of comey's conduct in office with respect to the hillary clinton e-mails and so forth. but this is also a way for the president to distract from other things, of course the filings from the special counsel and the southern district of new york which point more of a potential finger of blame toward the president related to actions with michael cohen and payments to two women during the 2016 campaign. i asked the president about that. he of course denied making -- telling cohen to make those payments and that they were illegal. that will be part of the investigation. but this is one of the times where watching his twitter feed gives you a sense of what is on

his mind and where he wants to try to direct public attention. and comey is his target today. >> kelly o., thanks for that. back to the impeachment question and for that joining mekong man ste mekong -- me congressman kohn from tennessee. democrats will be taking control of the house. if you learn nothing more than beside what was revealed in friday's court filings, do you want your committee to begin impeachment investigations on day one? >> i've already filed five grounds for impeachment, so i think that there have been offenses committed by this president and that is why i filed them and that is why i have 17 co-sponsors. but that is as many as we could get. as far as the next congress goes, we will have hearings on the emoluments clause which is two of the five clauses and we will have hearings on those

issues. and also what he has done to the justice department and questioning judges base the d o their ethnicity, other statements about the ninth circuit and comments about judges in general. and about the press. so we'll have hearings on impeachment, but they are hearings on the charges that go into impeachment resolution and the judiciary committee will follow those. and i'm working with chairman nadler and those are issues that are dear to his heart as well. >> and i want you to listen to senator rabd paul wnd paul. here it is. >> this has been years aeeen my complaint about special counsels is that they find a person and look for a crime. with a special prosecutor, you decide we're going after someone, the president, and we'll squeeze as many people as we can until we can get a person. and that is why i think they are

a huge mistake and a huge abuse of government power. >> does the senator make any reasonable case there, do any of his points resident nature wiun resonate with you? >> i listened to him and i almost purged. his whole commentas doesn't resonate at all. he is not going after donald trump, he is going after russian involvement in our election in 2016. and it is there. and he also said that he didn't thinks election law violations should be prison time, that he thought that they should be pay a fine for federal election law violations, finance laws. well, with the people that are running in this day and time, trump who has a lot of money, the desibloombergs, mark cuban

all these people, a fine is nothing to them. so if you don't have jail time, a fine does not in-hibts the conduct of people who are running for people these days. most of them. with the conduct that they might incur. so so many things rand said was off the wall. and i like rand. but he had a bad day i think. >> i told you that i would bring up jerry nadler. and here is among the things that he has said just a short while ago, he says that the president is at the, quote, center of several massive frauds of the american people. you mentioned emolementumentemo. would you character rise this as the president having defrauded the american public? >> on his best day i think that is what he's done. it is a criminal enterprise that he and his family have been engaged in, to run for the president and they monetized it. 24 they have done it at the trump

tower, with the trump hotels, with the saudis. i'm sure robert mueller has gotten into it, the saudis pay anything i want. he said it. one of the sons said we hahave plenty of money from russia. their finances came from deutsche bank. wilbur ross i think the connects that you will find there with the banks filtering money around. this is a criminal enterprise that makes al capone look like they were good guys. >> but congressman, you are talking about financial issues. a question i want to ask is this, if he has defrauded the american people during the campaign, does that suggest to you that had the president not taken the actions that are alleged, that he would not have won the presidency? >> no, if he didn't do what he did, he would not have won the presidency. the hush money to stormy daniels, the hush money to miss

august, whatever he's -- involvements with the russians and who knows if he paid off russian hackers. i think robert mueller knows what michael cohen's voechltd of involvement w -- involvement was with the trip to the czech republic. there could easily be recorded conversations that michael cohen gave to the special counsel and the special counsel had opportunities to listen to conversations because national security was at stake. there will be a massive case, republicans will start to see that there is a cancer on the presidency, this man is an albatross and 2020 is coming up and they don't to lose their seats. because all those people are standing behind donald trump, they risk looking like fools and being voted out. >> so you think that donald trump's actions is what cost the democrats and hillary clinton the white house? >> oh, no question about it. h actions, involvement with the russians, and then there is an issue about the correspondence that was in the justice

department that caused mr. comey to take his actions in late october and there is good information or reasonable information that the russians might have been involved, interchanges there to make them think that loretta lynch had made xhincomments to democrats she wasn't going to prosecute and so comey felt it necessary to go forward. so a lot of stuff there. the russians were very involved. vladimir putin is a pro. he is the best. he is lebron james at dirty tricks and intelligence. >> and we heard from king, he is saying that impeachment proceedings could be seen as a coup if pursued. do you xwyou agree? >> no, i don't. he said that if we did impeachment that people would look like it as a banana republic taking politics and making political decisions to

remove somebody that won the election. that is what the impeachment is about, it is a political process, but a process that says when somebody is taking actions that are harmful to the democracy and harmful to the people's respect in government, high crimes and misdemeanors can mean a lot of different things to people, but it is kind of like what has grown up around the government and when it stinks because of a swamp that is in-has been bitted by people who have no reason to be there, then you have to act to protect the government and the society. who have no reason to be there, then you have to act to protect the government and the society. 30% that wouldn't agree with that, if trump told them that the moon was made out of marshmallow, they would believe it. he has 30%. and it is sad, but he has about 30% of the population totally believing whatever he says and he knows it and he is playing with them. and it is -- the man has no conscience. i was looking back at a song that he would have known, ro

rockin' robin, he rocks in the tree tops all day long, singing a song, all the birds on j bird street love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet. a lot of people on j bird street will hear him go tweet tweet tweet. >> you do bring your tennessee charm. one more question for you. and james comey testified before your committee behind closed doors. you asked him some questions. what was your big takeaway from his testimony? >> comey is a straight arrow. he respects the justice department, the fbi and thinks that they need to be respected and they do. the people there are people of high character. serving at salaries much less than they could ever get in the private sector. lisa page testified to that. she lived with her parents so she could save money and not

have to go to a high priced law firm to pay for her college debt about a s because she wanted to be a government lawyer. the fbi is not biased. >> one thing though, i'm looking at the president trump's tweets from this morning, he claims that on 245 occasions comey said that he didn't recall or couldn't remember. is that true, and if so, did that bother you? >> i have no idea how many there were and i don't take the president's math as being even probable cause. he makes up numbers. the other day he made one number up at a hanukkah party and said that they had so many x at the evening party it was a different number. he just picks numbers out of the sky. you can't believe anything that the president says. >> glad to have you speaking on my broadcast. thank you so much. have a good sunday. >> always good to be with you. the headline reads, they think that the bomb is coming

this week and the story says don jr. is very worried. xw gabe sherman will join me to talk about his latest article next. you're headed down the highway when the guy in front slams on his brakes out of nowhere. you do, too, but not in time. hey, no big deal. you've got a good record

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i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. new today, the top democrat on the house intelligence committee adam schiff says the president may face serious consequences in the wake of friday's court filings. >> there is a very real process

spepgt process -- prospect that on the day he leaves office, he may be indicted. we have been discussing the issue of pardons that the president may offer to people. the bigger pardon question may come down the road as the next president has to determine whether to pardon donald trump. >> joining me now, laura bassett, david sherman, and also john harwood. a big welcome to all three. john, i'll start with you first. is congressman schiff overstating the case here or are these valid proper spektss facing the president? >> they are certainly valid. you had the filing from the southern district of new york on friday which indicated without formally charging him or formally accusing him that the president was inmplicated in tw campaign finance felonies.

serious stuff. and they also signal that most of what the president has been saying throughout the campaign and since including in his first press conference when he said that he or anyone around him had had no contact with the russian, obviously that was false. we have learned that those discussions with michael cohen at least started in 2015. and the question arises, which i think bob mueller likely is going to answer, why have there been so many lies for so long from so many prominent people including the white house national security adviser, the campaign chairman and multiple other people if this was all innocent activity. so prospect of impeachment is very real. it is not out of the question that the senate would convict him even though that requires 20 republicans if the political situation deteriorates enough, that becomes a possibility. and then as congressman schiff

said, his re-election prospects are getting dimmer and if he leaves office in 2021, he is at risk and that is one of the reasons why i think that there is a possibility that you would see the president as his prospects get dimmer perhaps engaging in back and forth that could result in him leaving office early in return for some sort of lenient deal. >> laura, senator chris murphy this morning called on the special counsel to get the investigation wrapped up as soon as possible because they want to look at the evidence which is typically something that we hear from republicans, not democrats. what do you think is behind this? >> i think everyone is a little bit antsy to see what mueller's got. and it is clear in the court filings from friday that he has got the receipts. he has the evidence. and they are circling closer and closer to formally accusing trump multiple crimes, money laundering, campaign finance violations, obstruction of justice, collusion with russia.

and so i think the democrats in the house are basically just champing at the bit and in the senate are champing at the bit to go after trump to talk about what happens next, impeachment, what do we do. but i don't know that it is necessarily the smartest thing to try to rush mueller. let him take his time. the man is clearly doing something right. >> gabe, i mentioned as you walked in to the studio a really juicy piece you wrote about a thursday night party. and an engagement party in d.c. with a lot in the trump orbit attending. people were expecting a bomb to drop from mueller's office. what did they expect to see and did they see it in friday's revelations? >> yeah, this was a party that was held in d.c., an engagement party for dave urban who is a long time trump assumer, wsuppo

one time a campaign to be ambassador to saudi arabia. and a lot of officials gathered and the conversation at the party as people relayed to me, they feel like this is entering an end game here with robert mueller. and i think one of the things that most concerns the white house is the stechbextent of cooperation we're learning that michael cohen and michael flynn have had with the special counsel office. both of those men sat for more than a interviews with the special counsel. so there is a sense that mueller is getting closer to actually going after the core members of the administration and members of the trump family. and the name that has come up not only this party but other conversations has been don jr. because he was at that pivotal june 2016 trump tower meeting in which russians came to trump tower offering, quote, dirt on then candidate hillary clinton. so this is clearly a new phase of the president's war with the

special counsel's office and i think the concern is that not only are people like jerry corsi or roger stone in legal jeopardy, but actually don jr. >> and he wrote that he took on a hunting trip so he isn't near a microphone. but he also say a former official is telling you that there is a chaos, there is a feeling that this could all unwind quickly. how quickly? >> again, it depends what robert mueller turns over to the justice department with this report we're all waiting on. i think that there is a sense that he is waiting -- at least in trump's orbit, there is a sense that mueller is waiting until the democrats take controlling of the house in january which would offer another measure of protection. but this is a case where we see the velocity and intensity of the president's tweets ramping up, which again is an indication that clearly this is becoming more of a source of stress and

pressure on the white house. >> john, what do you think the time line is for impeachment? is it something that they want to kick everything off with three plus weeks from now? >> no, i don't. first of all, before i get to that i have to say the big mystery is how that party ended being at the saint regis rather than trump international. does not sound like the trump crowd. but look, i think it is inevitable that the house majority is going to turn to impeachment. i think that they want to manage this process so that they look like they are not overeager for it. clearly jerry nadler is preparing for that at the house judiciary committee. and i think that angus king's remarks is consistent with that approach because we know that in the next several weeks, we are likely to get much more information as my colleagues have both indicated from robert

mueller and every increment of information is bad for trump and better hastens the prospects of impeachment. >> and one of the last points that nadler made and the quote was, do these impeachment offenses -- did they rise to the gravity when you should undertake an impeachment. so laura, the question to you is, can democrats push their apology agenda without getting bogged down with an investigation? >> i don't think democrats will be doing much policy making. they don't have control of the senate, they don't have control of the white house. trump can veto anything they do. so i think the real source of their power right now is their ability to stop trump and frankly it is urgent. there a criminal in the white house. he cheated to get there. is he is abusing his power and he is using the president is i to enrich his own businesses and

those of his family and to help foreign adversaries. he is helping saudi arabia cover up the murder of an american journalist. so every day he is undermining climate proceductions. this needs to happen quickly. and so i think that democrats feel that sense of urgency and will probably be prioritizing that over trying to pass legislation that he will veto anyway. >> all right. thank you guys. good to see you. why did house gop members bombard james comey with more questions about hillary clinton's e-mails? why the obsession? we have answers ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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this is a president who is now named as a co-conspirator. >> if someone violated the law, application of the law should be applied to them like any other citizen. no one should be above the law. >> nothing prohibits the president from being indicted. >> lawmaker s reacting this

morning. and joining me now, anna schecter and melissa murray. a welcome to you both. melissa, do you agree with congressman nadler? >> i think congressman nadler set forth an agenda and it seems like he wants to slow things down, make things more moderate and less political reaction because that will surely be the criticism that this newly enacted congressional house that is largely democrat is out for president's blood. and i think that he wants to inject more moderation that this is considered, reason able and that there is a basis. >> so you agree with jerry nadler that this president could be constitutionally indicted? >> the about a are for high crimes and misdemeanors is not the same as committing a

statutory violation. so it isn't the case that he has to be found to have committed a violation before we saw in the clinton impeachment for example that it can be the obstruction, covering things up. law scholars are pretty much xlitsed to the idea that there is a lower thresholds beyond actually committing a statutory crime, that it is simply the idea of a series of acts that are inconsistent with the office of the presidency. >> and anna, do you envision a scenario where the southern district of new york could indict the president under seal perhaps revealing it if he is no longer president? >> well, we're searcertainly log to the southern district of new york. the cohen document i think is mostly making trump nervous. if you look at the hush payments to the two women. so we really don't know.

but it is largely understood at least in mueller's circle we've been told that he won't bring an indictment against a sitting president. so it remains to be seen waiting to see what the next 145shoe is. >> so there is a report that says prosecutors have examined the statute of limitatoins on finance violations. why try to determine whether they can indict the president after leaving office if they didn't have reasonable doubt? >> so again, likely hoods of being indict a sitting president is less likely. so i think that they have estimated that the statute of limitations will run at around 2022 after trump is out of office if he is not reelected. and again, that will provide for

an opportunity for criminal leicht of liability after the fact. >> and anna, the same report is suggesting that the narrative being built is that the prod president defrauded voters. is it clear that trump, quote, defrauded voters as the headline says? >> my concern is that we get caught up just in these narratives. and i really want to just remind everyone to look at the facts laid out in these court documents. and what is clear is that you had shady characters who were known to lie very close to the president before he ran for president, during the campaign, and continuing to communicate with him even after he won the presidency. and i'm speaking specifically about paul manafort and michael cohen. >> and with regard to defrauding voters though, melissa, do you need to prove intent when it comes to that? >> that is definitely the sure

-- issue in michael cohen's situation and there seems to be an effort to pruch inteove intes part. the memorandum certainly shows that he knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. ekt kenk connecting it to the president is the real question and the reason why they are moving slowly, making sure all of the is are dotted and ts are crossed. because he need to show that he intended for do this 3. >> ladies, thank you so much. and what touched off president trump's scathing attack on a leading senator and why he is being called a hypocrite for it. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet?

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the pieces of the puzzle are coming into place and the walls are closing in on donald trump. and his inner circle including his family. i happy to believe the president could be indicted. i may be in the minority. >> a portion of the remarks by senator blumenthal that prompted the president to punch back with two bizarre tweets. let's bring in howard dean and also susan delpersio. how much of a game changer do you think that the latest legal developments are for the president and do you think blumenthal is right that the

walls are closing in on him and his family? >> i think that it is a big game changer because he has said that the president is aen unindicted company conspira co-conspirator. i think that we have anned a squa -- an agenda and we have to follow it, but i think we may have to i impeach the president. >> and many think like you do. so that is why i ask the question whether the policy agenda can go forward. susan, your sense on the walls closing in on the president's family. how do you interpret that twitter response? >> the president tweets when he is upset or concerned or feels like he is under attack. so it kind of speaks for itself.

he deferred the vietnam draft, so did senator blumenthal, but that is the president acting out. and that is what we typically see from him. and the sentencing recommendations that came through on friday do show some more light and more information about where certain investigations stand. but they do not indicate where the mueller investigation stands. and i think that to the governor's point, you want that to play all the way through. so that way if the democrats do want to -- if there is reason to go on with impeachment, whether that or the southern district's case against michael cohen and election fraud, they can go forward using those investigations and already have a base of evidence. they should not make the same mistakes republicans make, they should not use these hearing as a way of grand standing. politically it didn't make sense.

they do have an agenda that they won on and it wasn't impeaching donald trump. >> it seems that they look at don jr. being the one most in peril of indictment and that there is a reason that he is on a hunting trip in canada because he thinks something could come down this week and does not want toe anywhere near a microphone. what is your sense? >> he would know. his attorneys would have been contacted that this is in the pipeline, so of course he wants to avoid any cameras. you can't actually escape to canada, they will send you back if necessary especially given our relationship with the president and theprime minister these days. a little tongue in cheek there. but it does look like don jr. is in trouble and basically on his own words. that is the thing.

michael cohen, donald trump jr., paul manafort, it is their own words that have slit their throats. >> and howard, james comey hearing on capitol hill, he said that in the weeks leading up to the 2016 election, rudy giuliani made statements that appeared to be based on his knowledge of the fbi's investigation into the matters. and comey went on to say that that and other related stories led him to open an investigation into a possible leak problem. how significant is this revelation? >> well, i don't think it is a surprise. i mean this is not new news for people who pay attention to this independent could o kind of stuff. this was always thought that the new york office of the fbi which rudy is very close to had it in for hillary for whatever reason. there are great people in the fbi for the vast number of them, but the new york office was

basical basicallyvil trumpville. so it was rumored for a long time 37. >> and transcriptses are showing that clinton was referenced more often than donald trump in that comey hearing. why are republicans still so focused on clinton's e-mails two years later? what do they think that they will gain? >> i think that it is just the shiny object that they can go to. perhaps some of them are trying to make some points with the president, make it a little bit of a casting call and see if there are any openings in the administration. but other than that, there is no reason to pursue it. it has been thoroughly investigated and it should be put to bed. >> and is there anything going down this road, howard, that damages democrats in any way? >> yeah, if we're going to impeach donald trump, we have to do it because it is the right thing, not the politically smart thing to do. i have no use for trump at all. he is certainly an awful president. but he can't impeach without a

reason. let mueller do his work. i don't agree with the senator who said we should hurry it up. i think we should let it take its course. let mueller do the job. he has already revealed that he believes the president is guilty of a felony. he has a lot more. i expect at least one trump probably donald jr. to be indict and probably more after that. >> all right. always good to see you. shakespeare wrote what is past is prologue. the author of this book talks to me next and explains why it is harder than it looks to remove a president from office. here we go.

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yeah. we just don't believe in them. oh nice. you would not believe how long i've been rehearsing that. no annual fee on any card. only from discover. the president has now stepped into the same territory that ultimately led to president nixon resigning the office. president nixon was an unindicted co-conspirator, certainly a different set of facts, but this investigation is starting to put the president in the crosshairs and he should be worried. everybody is worried. no one wants to bring the president down in democracy.

this isn't good for the country. >> joining me now, david priess, author of "how to get rid of a president." he's also a daily intelligence briefer under robert mueller. david, welcome to you. you just heard the senator talking about nixon. is it too soon to make that comparison as similar, or are there tangible things weighing in on that? >> it's the closest parallel in modern history to what we're seeing now. we've had attempts at impeachment. some of them were resolutions that went nowhere. two presidents ultimately did get impeached in the house, though not convicted by the senate. president nixon was the first one removed by impeachment. now, it didn't get to an

impeachment vote, but the reason he resigned was he was about to be impeached. when you start to see court documents that name an individual one, the president of the united states as someone directing illegal activity, the closest parallel we have is richard nixon. we saw how that played out, but there is a fundamental difference between richard nixon and donald trump. richard nixon served in the military. he had been more clear than donald trump. we don't know where donald trump stands. >> without drawing any conclusions in this case, it's worth noting that both the nixon articles of impeachment and ken starr's proposed articles of impeachment of bill clinton identified lying to the public

as an impeachable offense. democrats said today they're not convinced that's what donald trump has done, even according to the filings. does it rise to the level of impeachment? who is right on this? >> it is wide open, alex, because impeachment is whatever the house of representatives says it is. it is only defined in the constitution to have impeachable offenses of treason, bribery, or high crimes and misdemeanors. that latter category is so wide open, it can be anything they define it to be. >> is it an interpretive ability to look at that as to whether republicans are controlling the house or democrats are controlling the house? isn't it definitively established it should rise above political partisanship when looking at the definition of these things? >> it's both the political side and the legal side. on the political side, the consternation creates a sense of impeachment as a trial. they use legal-like language. but it is an inherently

political body doing the trial, first the house making the indictment or impeachment and the senate deciding whether or not to remove the president. it is inherently political, and alexander hamilton wrote that at the time of the constitution, that any impeachment is inherently political because it deals with crimes against the society at large. so yes, they want to have some quasi-legal basis. that is, they want to have something they can call high crimes and misdemeanors. in the past this has usually been things like perjury, obstruction of justice, those kinds of things, abuse of power. but they also have a political calculation to make, which is, is this in the best interests both of the country, but from a partisan basis, is this in the best interests of the party going forward? remember, in the watergate case, the majority of republicans were on the side of richard nixon into 1974. it seemed impossible that he could be removed from office by impeachment until it wasn't. and what was previously impossible suddenly became inevitable. >> so i introduced you as a

former cia daily intelligence briefer, and this was during the tenure of robert mueller as being head of the fbi. tell me what you thought of the filings on friday. >> it didn't surprise me that these filings were so meticulous. now, a lot of them was left out. the redactions were still severe, at least in the manafort case. but what we saw was a clear logic by robert mueller and those working with him in the special counsel's office were laying out what they know, how they knew it and how it fit together. it showed yet again that the mueller investigation is one step ahead of the rest of us. every time an indictment has dropped or a court filing has been made, there have been details that people have speculated about but we didn't know that mueller knew. there is no reason to believe that has stopped now. he has kept a very tight ship. this is running in a way where we're not getting leaks from the investigation itself, we're learning about these in the documents.

>> is that why all the redactions? >> that's a part of it. it may be the investigations into those other side matters, the related matters, are still in an early enough phase that they don't want to give the game away on those other issues. there is a two-level game going on here, of course. one is making sure these court filings do what they need to do in the case of sentencing guidelines and other things. but the other is these investigations haven't wrapped up yet, and the mueller team needs to make sure they're still able to get all the information they can, not only from witnesses, but also from documents, from tax returns, from financial records. they need to make sure they get all that and don't give their hand away too early when there's still matters under investigation. >> david priess, come see me again. thanks for this conversation. >> i'd love to. thanks, alex. the president says hush payments don't even make the top five offenses by the president. and zero minimums to open an account.

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