peter zeidenberg, welcome to the newshour. now that the white house has confirmed that the president was involved, weighed in, as the press secretary said, in this statement by donald trump, jr., to the public, what effect does this have on this investigation? >> well, it's going to generate a lot of interest i'm sure from the special counsel who is going to want to know who was involved in that whole process. everyone on that plane who was weighing in, whether they were actually physically on the plane or, according to the "post" story, they were opening or calling in, so all those people, the special counsel is going to want the interview and find out what was going on. >> woodruff: how much does it matter, peter zeidenberg, that the white house press secretary said today, yes, the president weighed in as a father would, but then just a few weeks ago the president's attorney said, no, the president didn't have any involvement in this? >> well, you know, lying to the public is not a crime. but what is going to be of interest

jeremy bash, peter zeidenberg. and coming up after the next break what the russia preoccupation has done to a republican white house and a republican congress thus far. that's when the broadcast continues. >>> have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? they can't beat us at the voting booths, so they're trying to cheat you out of the future and the future that you want. they're trying to cheat you out of the leadership you want with a fake story that is demeaning to all of us and most importantly demeaning to our country and demeaning to our constitution. >> really crucial choice of words there. that was president trump, again, tonight, huntington, west virginia, returning to a state that delivered a sweeping victory for him on election night. with us tonight to talk about the state of play and assess the damage are two of our all-star panelists msnbc political analysts eugene robinson prize winning columnist and republican veteran steve s

. >> peter zeidenberg is a special prosecutor. >> i think they felt they weren't getting full cooperation because if they did, they wouldn't feel the need to get a search warrant. >> the day before his home was searched, they met with senate investigators to discuss the june 2016 meeting at trump tower by donald trump jr. to meet with a russian attorney who reportedly had damaging information on hillary clinton. typically criminal investigation, prosecutor tries to flip witnesses. in exchange for their cooperation they lessen their legal liabilities. mueller could be trying to do this now to pressure manafort. >> if they think he has information about the campaign, they would undoubtedly squeeze him for that and he would be in a position from a prosecutor's standpoint to tell you what's going on, who was doing what, who knew what when. >> manafort was officially part of the campaign for five months, campaign chair for just three, but this development is another sign of how close this investigation is hitting to the president's inner circle. the special counsel's office declined to comment

. >> reporter: peter zeidenberg say former justice department prosecutor. >> i think that the takeaway is that they felt they weren't getting full cooperation because if they did, they wouldn't feel the need to take a step of getting a search warrant. >> reporter: the day before his home was searched, manafort met with senate investigators to discuss the june 2016 meetath trump tower organized by donald trump jr. to meet a russian attorney whose whosupposedly had damaging information about hillary clinton. the special counsel is also looking into manafort's business dealings. typically in criminal investigations, prosecutors try to flip witnesses. in exchange for their cooperation, they lessen their legal liabilitys. mueller could be trying to do that now to pressure manafort. >> if they think he has information about the campaign, they would undoubtedly squeeze him for that and he'd be in a position, from a prosecutor's standpoint, to tell you what's going on, who is doing what, who knew what, when. >> reporter: manafort was officially part of the trump conservatism for only five mont