joining me now is danny cevallos. danny, good morning. in april, we all recall the president trying to throw out a lawsuit alleging he violated the emoluments clause. how does this fit? >> the emoluments clause is whether or not the president receives any benefit or profit from a foreign government and the key is how we define emoluments. the founders had a couple of definitions. one dictionary defined it as any profit. very broadly. on the other hand, another dictionary took a narrow view.

joining me now is danny cevallos. danny, good morning. we all recall the president trying to throw out a lawsuit alleging he violated the emoluments clause. how does this fit? >> the emoluments clause is whether or not the president receives any benefit or profit from a foreign government and the key is how we define emoluments. the founders had a couple of definitions. one dictionary defined it as any profit. very broadly. on the other hand, another dictionary took a narrow view. emoluments had to be related from the person's office. something like selling pardons out of the white house might be something directly related to the office. a more narrow reading of the emoluments clause means that sheik staying 26 nights at the trump hotel doesn't violate the emoluments clause because it is a profit from trump to the hotel. not the sale of something coming from the office or out of the white house. >> okay. how about this. what kind of challenges are there to connect this kind of activity and patronage of the president's businesses, particul

we'll bring in danny cevallos for that discussion. >> a flooding emergency in arkansas. in some areas the water reached the top of roof tops. a check of the weather when we come right back. most of us don't know how much data we use. but we all know we're paying too much for it. enter xfinity mobile. america's best lte, with the most wifi hotspots combined for the first time. when you're near an xfinity hotspot you're connected to wifi, saving on data. when you're not, you pay for data one gig at a time. use a little, pay a little. use a lot, just switch to unlimited. it's a new kind of network. call, visit or go to xfinitymobile.com. >>> the u.s. chamber of commerce is considering filing a lawsuit against the white house over the trump administration's latest rounds of tariffs on mexico. or at least the threat. the organization's senior vice president of international affairs told reporters on friday that the group is exploring all openings including legal action. the tariffs if the president were to do it would begin at 5% and increase by five percentage points each mo

>> obstruction. >> let's go to danny cevallos.she legally bound to follow the instructions by president trump not to talk about her white house days? >> in a world of legal question this one is relatively, not completely clear, but relatively clear. the executive branch loses considerable power to compel or refuse to allow ex-officials testify after they've left the executive branch. hope hicks is someone now in the private world. so the white house's power to prevent her from testifying is minimal at this point. however, hope hicks controls the privilege. she's the one who can decide whether or not to testify. if she's still aligned with trump, she will adhere to the issues and the white house will find out whether or not she truly has immunity. >> and hope hicks is the person who was there from the very start. she worked for ivanka trump in her fashion line. >> she has a very tight relationship. >> yeah. and donald trump doesn't use computer or email. during the campaign when people would try to get messages to him, they would g

danny cevallos is here. those are a couple of issues we'll want to get to. first one being michael flynn fires his lawyers just as the judge is about to sentence him. what does that tell you is that smart? >> this happens. sometimes defendants feel frustrated, they feel they don't have any control. it's not that unusual for a defendant to fire his lawyers. just before sentencing yes it's unusual. you have to remember flynn's situation. when he went into sentencing originally he was the best candidate possible for probation only sentence. his guideline range was zero to six months. the government, the prosecutors recommended a low end sentence, that's zero months. he was a slam dunk for a probation sentence. he gets to the sentencing and the judge says no, no, not so fast. i might consider giving you prison time. his mind must have been reeling. months on he may blame his terms for characterizing what the government did as harassing him or persuading him or harbinto cooperating. i'm not so sure he'll back out of the plea deal. everything in his conduct has be

danny cevallos, thank you very much. joyce vance, you are going to stick around with us. hold tight. >>> coming up next, a big question as we head into night two of the debate, can bernie sanders reignite the burn among progressives? his campaign manager joins me live here in the spin room when we come back. om when we come back we're carvana, the company who invented car vending machines and buying a car 100% online. now we've created a brand new way for you to sell your car. whether it's a year old or a few years old, we want to buy your car. so go to carvana and enter your license plate, answer a few questions, and our techno-wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds. when you're ready, we'll come to you, pay you on the spot, and pick up your car. that's it. so ditch the old way of selling your car, and say hello to the new way-- at carvana. >>> progressive senator elizabeth warren who spent the last few weeks surging in the polls ended last night as the most searched democratic candidate on twitter. but what does a surge in warren mean

. >>> joining me now is msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. good morning, danny. michael cohen's attorney said the voice mail from michael flynn is similar to messages left from rudy giuliani to cohen. . is not not obstruction or witness tampering? >> not necessarily. on one hand, i criticize the voice mail because who leaves a voice mail of that kind of substance that's so long. i mean nobody leaves voice males that long any more. what's going to happen with something of this import is it's going to be forwarded to somebody and scrutinized. more than likely he was asking about whether or not, tell me, give me heads up are you in this joint defense agreement or out of it. admittedly it's very vague and almost intentionally so. he waffles back and forth. it's not out of the realm someone could characterize it as obstruction. >> i want to turn to reports that congressman nadler could subpoena the special counsel in two weeks and argued an impeachment inquiry would strengthen his standing in court. how would that widen the president's liability. >> mueller gave his o

joining me to talk about this, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. to see you, danny. >> good to see you, too. >> let's talk about the doj lawsuit despite the reminders that say she was required to file these financial disclosure reports. omarosa, and that she violated the ethics and governments act. what does this mean for the former "prentiss" star. >> the ethics and government act is designed to keep high-level government employees like omarosa honest by requiring that they form disclosure forms before and after they leave the employ of the government. that is what this lawsuit alleges, that manigault newman failed to file the forms. the key here is why would doj file suit against her knowing it would open up an issue of discovery. this is an administration that should avoid discovery, rather than inviting more discovery. but the law itself is relatively straightforward. she has to file. if she didn't do it in a required amount of time then she is subject to a fine. >> so her attorneys are arguing, obviously, that these allegations are untrue but t

. >> all right, joining me now are two criminal defense attorneys, ashleigh merchant and danny cevallosis an msnbc legal analyst. ashleigh, you have a member of the white house's counsel who will be present at that hearing. you heard from congressman schiff. how will executive privilege play a role here a year later and what's different? what's changed? >> i think one of the reasons why they're having her testify in a closed hearing without her being publicly available is so she can fix something. if she goes further than she should, they'll have her attorney there and a white house attorney there. they're there to protect her, to tell her when she should and shouldn't answer. but if she does say something that's wrong, they can actually go and try to get that redacted from public view before the prescri transcript's made available. so i think they have extra protections there ready just in case she does go too far. >> multiple levels there. danny, alex witt spoke with congressman ted deutch yesterday. he sits on the judiciary committee, and emphasized the importance of her testimony. l

and bring in legal analyst danny cevallos for that. >>> amid escalating pressure from the white house, mexican authorities are reportedly cracking down on the surge of migrants heading to the u.s.. those stories and a check on the weather when we come right back. if you have moderate to severe psoriasis, little things can be a big deal. that's why there's otezla. otezla is not a cream. it's a pill that treats plaque psoriasis differently. with otezla, 75% clearer skin is achievable. don't use if you're allergic to otezla. it may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. otezla is associated with an increased risk of depression. tell your doctor if you have a history of depression or suicidal thoughts or if these feelings develop. some people taking otezla reported weight loss. your doctor should monitor your weight and may stop treatment. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. tell your doctor about your medicines and if you're pregnant or planning to be. ready to treat differently with a pill? otezla. show more of you. at comcast, we didn't build the nation's lar

joining me on set legal analyst danny cevallos.his is an interesting conversation and topic because census is so important to where we allocate money in this country, who gets what resource, social services, hospital, schools, that sort of thing in addition to how it affects elections and gerrymandering. the president invoking executive privilege. where is this leading democrats right now in their fight to learn more behind the motives. >> any time executive privilege is invoked congress has a difficult issue to resolve. how far do they want to take this fight? do they want to go the civil contempt route or criminal contempt route? one requires the assistance of one of the branches judiciary or criminal contempt assistance of executive branch. if the executive branch has asked to prosecute the executive branch they usually are not fond of prosecuting themselves. that's not a viable option for congress. that's why we see so much effort at compromise short of going the contempt route. >> it's interesting because i think the argument

joining me now to discuss this is legal analyst danny cevallos. >> good morning. the language and orders. the judge released the transcript and added a trailer of any recordings the government has. you have to imagine at main justice or doj while looking at the order they were scratching their heads because we cannot release everything. surely the judge meant the stuff we used in the flynn case and relied on in sentencing. the doj and attorneys had an interesting choice. comply with the judge's order as everything or do they release what the judge thought he meant by the order and give the stuff they relied upon in sentencing. it is a game buit. it is a risk that the judge could come back angrier if he perceives the order was rejected. >> how can they come to that clarification? >> how do they interpret it? >> sure. >> it is a gambit. if the order requires any and all recordings that you have. so the government is really trying an interpretation is what the judge must have meant. surely, judge, you must have meant the stuff we used in this case for flynn so i'll t

joining us here on the set, msnbc legal analyst, danny cevallos. do you make of the sentencing here 13 months? >> this is one of the lowest level defendants. in fact, the person who provided the most evidence against him was singer, the center piece of this main case, the main bad guy. part two, as you alluded to, the defendant in this case did not personally profit from the money. he took the money and essentially gave it to stanford. he's a first-time offender. none of the students actually attended stanford. so there's a decent argument that the crime never went through. >> that doesn't matter. >> under the definition that doesn't matter at all. exactly. he's part of the overall agreement, so he is going to be sentenced. and the real battle today is does he get a straight probation sentence or closer to the 13 months that the government is looking for in this case. >> what kind of sentence doing the other parents and coaches involved in this scheme, what kind of sentencing do they face? >> it all depends on their individual conduct. and this is

i'm joined now by msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos.his is a fascinating case on a number of levels. and you correct me if i'm wrong. i cannot remember a case in recent memory where a school resource officer is being charged for something that he or she has not done, right? >> you're absolutely right. there's a huge distinction between action and inaction. when you're talking about inaction, you have to show that that inaction fell below a particular standard of care. and in the case of criminal negligence, craig, most of the time, these cases deal with what happens when you sue police officers or you sue school resource officers? very rarely, if ever, are police officer s or people like mr. peterson charged with a crime for their inaction. and at least in the civil context, the supreme court has said that even inaction in the face of a known risk does not necessarily get past an officer's general immunity from lawsuit. it so may stand to reason that it shouldn't get over any immunity for criminal prosecution for conduct during his -- d

joining us here on the set, legal analyst danny cevallos. >> good to see you. >> if she pursue legal action, what would happen here? >> i don't normally say this, but there is zero chance that donald trump is going to face any criminal or civil liability for these alleged attacks and i'm really perplexed by de blasio saying that the nypd stands ready to investigate because almost all statutes of limitations have long since expired. now, the modern trend -- >> so it's not even based on any law? that's not based on any -- >> well, what he could mean is that the nypd will investigate to confirm that it happened in the 1990s, as soon as they do that then they can say oh, this happened in the 90s and the statute of limitations has expired so de blasio may be correct. at the time, new york statute of limitations for the crimes was five years. there's no way that it would have been told or paused because most of the tolling statutes -- in other words the ones that allow the clock not to run yet involve a situation where the defendant is not known or who has run away or is left for canada or

joining us here on the set, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. y, what do you make of these charges that "the new york times" is called an unusual instance of law enforcement officer being held criminally liable for not protecting the public? >> it's very unusual. and it sets a dangerous precedent in many ways. because our long has long held that police officers are not the absolute guarantors of our safety. yes, they can be held liable, i mean civilly liable. but generally speaking there's no promise that a police officer will keep you sage and we knfe that. peterson is charged with a criminal law that is child neglect. the police officer would have to be a caregiver under the statute. and a caregiver is defined as a parent, someone living in the household or something of that nature. or some other person responsible for the child's safety. i don't know that courts will extend that definition to anybody who had a contractual obligation to generally protect students like a school resource officer. >> and these charges carry a maximum potential of

we'll ask danny cevallos why lawmakers are going after the former trump associates. >>> plus president trump welcomes kim kardashian-west to the white house. details on a presidential policy the reality star is lending her support to. those stories and of course a check on your weather when we come back. searching for a way to help stop your cold sore? only abreva can get rid of it in... ...as little as 2 1/2 days when used at the first sign. abreva starts to work immediately to block the virus and protect healthy cells. abreva acts on it. so you can too. [ giggling ] ♪li'm a slick chickp♪ [ doorbell ] [ slap ] your nails! xfinity home... cameras. xfinity home... disarm the system. door's open. morning... welcome to the neighborhood. do you like my work? secure your home with x1 voice control. and have professional monitoring backing you up with xfinity home. demo at an xfinity store, call or go online today. we even had a tornado touch down in new jersey. so as we move towards today we have another threat for more severe weather the threatno for today is in th central andth southern p

set is danny cevallos.re talking interview notes, firsthand accounts of misconduct and other critical evidence as they put it collected from the white house by mueller's team. what type of insight could we get from all of this? >> this is so interesting to me. as a criminal defense attorney you want to get agent's handwritten notes. as somebody who has lie the at the investigated foia cases you want to get handwritten notes because you think it will give you insight. sometimes it's nothing. it's like a needle in a hay stack. sometimes it's a gold mine. when that happens it can break a case wide-open. but, the reality is a lot of the things in those handwritten notes, and former that isn't already in the mueller report, already made it in or wasn't important enough to bother with. so that may be what we're talking about here. >> you're skeptical of what we could find? >> i am. but at the same time this is not an ordinary investigation. the kind of thing that didn't make it into the mueller report could be sc

with some of tho questions we turn to nbc news legal analyst danny cevallos. danny, how unusual is this? how unprecedented is it to have criminal charges not for something that an officer did but for something that he failed to do according to the indictment? >> it's very unusual. it arguably sets a danrous ncen away from their dut ts. because supreme court has aid when police are s civiyll is a lower burden o qualified pro immunity that pol officers enjoy from being sued. so itort of -- it goes against the spirit of qualifiedy to suggest that inaction inunit tmmhis isituation could result in criminal culpability. because negligence in the criminal context is always hi higher than the negligence in the civil context. >>es peterson fac up to a hundred years in prison if convicted on all counts here. arat might we see going forward with this particulcase? >> the statutory maximum is never indicative of what somebody is going to get. a first time aumpbder like peters is not going to get the max which is arrived at adding up all the possible maximums end to end con

joining us here on set, not sleaze bag attorney, msnbc legal analyst danny cevallos. >> i appreciateat. what a ringing endorsement. >> i said not. the best attorney in the biz. ahead of this hearing which is going to be really interesting to say the least to watch it and jeff just told me our own joyce vance and braarbara mcquaid wil be testifying. what's your takeaway so far on the mueller report. >> the mueller report which i've read, we know from mueller's press conference if called to testify, what he's going to do is be reading from the four corner of the report. in that sense if mueller is called to testify it may be very boring. there's nothing new we haven't seen in his 480-page report. the big takeaway, of course, from the mueller report can be best summarized by mueller himself who came out giving a press conference summarizing on russian collusion portion and the obstruction portion. i felt when robert mueller gave his press conference he was saying between the lines hey look we did a lot, we found a lot of russian interference and obstruction there was not enough to charg

. >> with us now, nbc legal analyst danny cevallos and "new york times" national security and legal reporterharlie savage. welcome to both of you. danny, this is not a vote to hold anybody in contempt of congress. what exactly is it? >> this is more -- there are two different main kinds of contempt. there's the civil process, then there's the criminal process. the challenge with the criminal process is that it is more punitive. it is about punishing. in fact, it is not even interested in whether or not the person complies ultimately with the contempt order. >> right. >> on the other hand, the civil proceeding is a little more flexible. it allows a person to actually argue the issues in court without seeking to immediately punish the contemnor, or person being subpoenaed or from whom documents are sought. in that sense, the civil procedure is more coercive than punitive. >> so walk me through one more time the specific difference between the two. the average person out there is going, what? >> the average person is confused, sometimes lawmakers and courts. some courts have said that the diffe

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