podesta and the podesta group. it ghndz we stop reporting on the podesta group and he said mr.odesta may pursue legal action to protect his rights. the letter warns us that we will face legal action under the copyright act merely for quoting from this letter publicly as we just did. the most amusing line is this one, paul manafort did not work with the podesta group in its representation of the european center for a modern ukraine. that's what the lawer's letter told us. apparently he hasn't read the manafort indictment yet. at the direction of manafort and gates companies a and b engaged in extensive lobbying on ukraine. the indictment says the podesta group and mercury were selected personally by paul manafort to lobby on we half of ukranian interests. so if john podesta's legal team has a complain it's not with us it's with the department of justice and the mueller investigation. podesta's lawyer wasn't trying to inform us of anything but to threaten us, to shut down our reporting on his clients. one lawyer said the podesta have used this tactic with people before, it's to u

why did the russians choose the podesta group? well, because both podestas for close to the clintons. she could get things done to the clients. it was influence peddling, the most obvious kind. for example, our source says that at john podesta's recommendation, his brother tony hired a man named david adams. before joining the podesta grou group, adams worked at the state department as assistant secretary of state for legislative affairs. he was also chief legislative advisor to hillary clinton. as part of his job, he personally briefed hillary clinton every day. he aided in the confirmation of at least 122 political nominees at state. by hiring him in 2013, our source says, at the podesta group got a direct liaison between their offices and by extension their russian clients, and hillary's state department. sometimes, our source said, ties between the podesta group and the clintons were explicit. tony podesta spoke regularly to hillary clinton while she ran the state department. secretary clinton is on the line. at one point in ei

robert mueller has launched a criminal inquiry into tony podesta and the podesta group. mealey's investigation began by looking into the finances of former term campaign chairman paul manafort but has since expanded to include tony podesta over whether his firm violated what is known as fa ra, the foreign agent registration act. working for foreign entities, they must register with the department of justice and disclose what they are doing. according to nbc? the podesta group lobbied for a ukrainian nonprofit that has ties to pro-russia political in that country. this is where it gets interesting. as nbc news reports, the podesta group updated that registration and its work with the ukrainian group only in june, only after media reports and after congress started asking questions. this hypocrisy from the democrats is beyond stunning. we've heard from over a year that russia is a hostile country, put in a such a bad character. and now it's the democrats? would you be here for the corrupt media? nothing, crickets. they've been attacking president trump and claiming there's

the podesta group founded by hillary clinton's campaign chairman and her brother.urns out, there were indeed russian agents in washington that were working with democrats. meanwhile, we have will also solved much of the mystery about the trump dossier, that collection of salacious and totally made-up allegations that buzz feed ran as a news story. chris steele was paid by anonymous republican donor who was hoping to undermine the trump campaign during the primaries. we've known that for a while. what we just learned and what has turned the story and washington on its head, once the republican primaries finished, the trump dossier project was funded by hillary clinton's own presidential campaign and also by the dnc. democrats have been lying about that for a year now. it's true it turns out. hillary's spokesman said that hillary knew about it because obvious she did. more shocking though, the fbi apparently may have also paid chris steele to dig up dirt on trump. how did they do this? why did they do this? we don't know. so far the fbi has ignored subpoenas sent to

instead it might look like what was actually going on for years at the d podesta group, the lobbying created by john podesta. according to a source we spoke to who worked for podesta for years, the company received huge sums of money from april russia show group in order to bolster russia's interests in washington, all without declaring itself in agent of a foreign power, which are demonstrably was. it might also look like the infamous and fraudulent trump dossier which was compiled in 2016 and then released this past january abide by his feet as a laughably stupid news story. much of that information, the restaurant sources with ties to the kremlin who paid for this -- who paid for this? at one point, from the democratic national committee, or clinton's campaign, possibly even the fbi. let's say you were looking for a smoke and gum in this story, and many are looking for this smoking gun. we have evidence the democrats literally paid money for russian intelligence as well as prove that the top democratic lobbying firm in washington was getting rich by advancing russian interests. co

lobbying firm the podesta group according to three sources with knowledge of the matter run by tony poe tes da, brother of john podesta. though john is not part of the group and not part of the mueller investigation. a spokesman for the group released a statement saying in part the firm is cooperating fully with the special counsel's office and has taken every possible step to provide documentation that confirms timely compliance. for more, one of the reporters on that article justice reporter julia ansley. thank you for being with us. what's this about? what's podesta got to do with us? >> this is looking into his filings, filings that any group like a lobbying group would want to file after they've taken money from another government, the foreign agent's registration act. he could be in violation of that because if you look back to his original filings on the work that the podesta group did with the european center for a modern ukraine, they called it a nongovernmental organization like an ngo on that filing. in fact, it's a political party and it's linked to this pro-russian ruling g

>> democratic lobbyist tony podesta announced yesterday he is leaving his powerhouse firm the podesta groupo focus on the special counsel's probe. he is the brother of hillary clinton's campaign chairman john podesta. neither of them has been charged with any wrongdoing and mr. manafort entered a not guilty plea yesterday. >> harris: thank you very much. the story now has a couple of podesta's and a british spy. for the longest period of time we have seen the shingle out, are they going to look at everything, it hasn't been one of the other, do you look at republicans or democrats? it's always been look at everything. >> guy: that is the charge of the special investigation on this team, it is not to get donald trump, it is to find out what the russians did and anyone who gets swept up in that, republican or democrat, if they were engaged in wrongdoing, so be it. i think the fact that the podesta group is apparently in the cross hairs of this investigation speaks well of mueller and undermines the narrative among some on the right that this is a witch hunt designed to go after only one party

podesta group is in his

the podesta group was also getting paid by a kremlin backed group of ukrainian fighters. just happened to not actually register under this act. now they are saying they are trying to register, make sure they are fully compliant. now they are muddied in the waters too. >> kimberly: you can't treat them differently. it's hypocritical. it's a double standard. the time frame, there some cross over. let's do a full rush occlusion investigation there. if that's what you want to do, let's just take a look at all of it because they are both trying to go back to fully comply and register properly to comport with the law and that act to try to clean it up. obviously they are also looking at manafort, other information to be able to give them. may be other financial miss dealings they are trying to hold him. the whole headline, trump and collusion in everyone working with him, it's really awful. if you go back and look at what was said and the damage done the things that were printed that were outright lies. >> dana: juan, do you think this looks bad for people close to the clintons

. >> that's the law that could hit the podesta group. look at motivation, bob mueller will go where he goes. argument is could be good news for donald trump if there's no findings of collusion, anybody else hit on the playing field, can get rid of staff. he's done that. >> mueller is going to follow where it leads but rod rosenstein, number two at justice department will have to make big decisions. regulation for special counsel dictates if mueller or anybody else finds evidence of a crime outside the scope of his or her mandate, may have to go to attorney general, rod rosenstein in this case to decide what to do with that evidence. rosenstein could be in the position of deciding what to do with what mueller and team find here. another piece that's important, work that podesta group was doing on behalf of ukrainian clients is really troubled human rights folks and former american diplomats. they were trying to convince the lawmakers that the ukrainian electricities were above board, clean and good election. while it happened, podesta gro

he was working with the podesta group. the single most powerful democratic lobbying firm in the city. of course founded by hillary's campaign chairman. you couldn't make it up. >> suddenly a lot of things seee clearer. you talked about the fbi, which is supposed to be a policing agency that operates on the interest of the american people. as you say, it's odd that an agency with almost unlimited resources compared to any equivalent to anywhere on the planet is having to outsource a lot of this. and use the taxpayers money to pay this british subject for this wacky report. to me, one of the most disturbing things about this iso you recall that the director of nationalal intelligence, clappe, asked james comey supposedly to have a meetingo with trump and tell trump they have a dossier explaining how he likes to enjoy highly specialized prostitution services in eastern europe. the minute they have held the meeting, ithe mysteriously -- te news of the meeting gets leaked to the press. i think it's a reasonable inference that c

all of the news and the fact that mueller is even into looking this work seems too much for the podesta groupfounder tony podesta. brooke? >> dan, thank you. dan merica at the white house for us. >> former contributor of the government ethics. welcome. as a democrat, what's your reaction to that? >> i'm hearing about this at the same time as you are. recall owe i took a look at doj's regulations for the special prosecutor and it clearly says and it's repeated in his written authorization that mueller received himself that he can investigate any matters that arise in the course of this investigation. it doesn't say matters arising against republicans or democrats. it just says any matters so if he's come across something involving podesta, that's fair game. if it's come up in the course of this investigation. >> walter, let me ask you about today's indictments involving campaign officials and president trump. he's shown he's not afraid of using his pardoning power and so had a lot of journalists asking if he might use it within this mueller investigation. let me play you some sound and this is

now it turns out robert mueller, the special counsel is investigating the podesta group. man is -- it looks like, according to news reports this morning, this investigation has morphed into a criminal inquiry whether or not his firm, when they were lobbying on behalf of the ukraine, violated the foreign agent's registration act. ainsley: ukraine hired him to promote and his company to promote their image here in the west. so what happens is if you lobby on behalf of a foreign government or a leader or political party, you have to file a detailed disclosure about their spending and their activities with the justice department. it turns out, according to this article, they did do that, but not until the media made others away that they were working with ukraine and they didn't file this. so then they go back and file it. so now roberts mueller is investigating. brian: and three separate sources back this up this investigation is taking place. i want to add something else to the fray. investigating paul manafort for his links to eastern european countries in russia and ukrai

so, lots of interesting connections with the podesta group. >> martha: all right. $500,000 clinton -- bill clinton speech. how does that play into this? >> well, that ties into 2010 when they're trying to get the approval of uranium one to be sold to the russians. bill clinton gives a half a million-dollar speech in moscow, which is basically three times more than he had ever been paid to give a speech in russia before. and the company that paid for that was an investment firm that, of course, was pushing uranium one as an investment that people ought to invest in. >> martha: i'm sorry, because i remember when hillary clinton became secretary of state the obama administration was concerned about the clinton foundation and all their deals and bill's speeches and all of that the former president's speeches. so when all of this is going on, how is there not oversight from the obama administration that would have led someone to say hey, guys, this is not cool. you need to straighten this out. >> it's a great question, martha. there was no oversight. here's the thing. b

the podesta group disclosed work that was linked to the pro-russia party in ukraine. now it's in the spotlight. in the indictment of manafort indicates it was two companies that the manafort and gates allegedly solicited with the pro-russia party, one of those being the podesta group according to the published reports out there. so i think it's a special counsel focuses on everything to do with russia trying to manipulate our election in this century, it should include the link between the russian fusion gps firm and the democrat in the hillary clinton campaign. if it does include that, the american people can rest assured. so far, this is an investigation that is largely focused on alleged collusion by the trump campaign, which again, doesn't anybody know the rules? george papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to investigators. don't say anything. it's the same thing with manafort. at least one of the charges is related to lying to an investigator. >> i go back to what you started with, which is the timing is not convenient and it's going to a lot of the oxygen out. w

that dossier helps mueller it will prove money well spent, this as we learn a source within the podesta groupa lobbying firm cofounded by hillary clinton campaign tucker carlson, the russia investigation coming back by the democrats. >> a former senior employee of the podesta group worked there for years, motivated to contact us by the discussed he felt watching media coverage of the russia story. not only were most reporters getting it wrong but getting it backwards. the resins were deeply involved in american politics but the real story had nothing to do with the 2016 presidential campaign. >> reporter: two house committees launching a new investigation into the obama administration's uranium deal with russia after explosive reports reveal the fbi was aware of an oil scheme by moscow to fund millions of dollars for the clinton foundation before the deal was approved which include the state department. heather: the uranium deal was covered extensively by some of the media but other media ignored it, they won't do that anymore. the media caught up in hammering donald trump and his alleged tie

records show the podesta group failed to show disclosure. sent subpoenas requesting for information from podesta. the group says the firm is cooperating fully with the special counsel's office and taken every step to provide documentation that confirms timely compliance. in all engagements the podesta group conducts due diligence and consults with experts ensures disclosure at all times and we did so in this case. another layer in the russia investigation i follow closely. a former hedge fund manager says he knows why there was a meeting with donald trump jr. in june. one of the largest investors in russia says the meeting had everything to do with the u.s. law he pushed for called the magnitsky act, saying he campaigned for the law after his lawyer and accountant sergei magnitsky was tortured and killed in a prison. allows to freeze assets and deny visas for foreigners suspected of human rights violations. he met with donald trump jr. in hopes to repeal the law and free up russian assets in the united states. where it gets interesting, over

one of the companies cited in manafort and gates is the podesta group.rned are you about the reach of the probe into the democratic party? investigation i trust director mueller to take the facts where the facts lead him. here's what we know about the facts to this date. the dnc got hacked. the rnc didn't get hacked. the russians attacked the dnc. they hacked the dnc and others because they wanted to help donald trump get elected president. they then trafficked in that information, the emails and other information they got rid they went to the trump campaign and found a willing participant in these efforts. that's what we know is happening. what happened yesterday is truly remarkable. we already have one member of the trump campaign team who has withguilty to colluding the russians. because he knew that if the truth came out it would be bad news. that's what we know. this is not only an attack on the dnc. this is an attack on our democracy. what troubles me as much as anything is the appalling silence of republican leaders. them.y of speaker ryan: leader

meantime democratic lobbyist tony po*ed po ed announced he is leaving his powerhouse firm the podesta group. he is the brother of hillary clinton's campaign chairman, john podesta and the podesta group was listed as company b in yesterday's indictment of paul manafort, the trump campaign chairman. >> there may be more to come on that as well and it bears washington the resignation could have been for health reasons for all we know but it is sudden and unexpected which makes you think it's something to watch. >> neither podesta has been charged with any wrongdoing. mr. manafort entered a not guilty plea yesterday. >> jon: so on capitol hill tech giants google, facebook and twitter set to testify how their platforms were used by russian groups during the 2016 election campaign. lawmakers are split along party lines as to what comes next. in light of the indictments for three ex trump campaign advisors. >> mr. manafort has had continuing contact with the president since his resignation from the campaign. just as shocking was the admission by the trump campaign advisor that he met with the krem

in fact, tony podesta stepped down from the group he founded 30 years ago yesterday. >> and john podestae campaign chairman for hillary clinton who was the victim of the hacking. but what do we know about tony podesta, julie? >> we know he was someone who for 30 years has kind of been lobbying for democratic causes. his group is a place where a lot of people go to after they leave democratic demonstrations. he's not part of these trump conservative circles we're looking at. he's someone who a lot of well-connected people in washington know, and he's also someone who took money from a pro-russia ukranian group to back their interest, to introduce ukranian officials to people on the hill. it is looking like he's a key piece to this, and i think his move yesterday to step down signals there's more news to come on tony podesta. >> and ruth marcus, you were at the editorial board where then-candidate trump talked about his foreign policy advisers. i want to play a little bit of the sound from him on that. >> george papadopoulos, he's an oil and energy consultant, excellent guy. >> this was th

the podesta group did work to benefit a pro-russian ukrainian party, although they reportedly said they did not think their client was politically tight at the time. they are looking to whether they failed to file the proper disclosure forms of the justice department. here's what the president tweeted -- let's bring in congressman doug collins of georgia, he is vice chair of the house republican conference, representative collins, great to have you today. if you can come i want you to break it down for us and tell us what's most important about what's happened now that tony podesta has stepped away from a firm with his name on it. >> i think what's happened is we are beginning to see this whole circle, the democrats have been trying to spin this story about the russian involvement in the indictments i came out yesterday but what's amazing is they finally got called themselves and i think he is stepping away, for most of the year now, they say there's a connection going on here. i think the interesting thing is when you look at the two brothers, my question is, you had a bad candidate. h

tony podesta resigned from the podesta group yesterday. is the brother of john podesta, the chairman of hillary clinton's campaign. the podesta group lobbied for a pro-russian ukrainian group manafort asked two unnamed companies to lobby on behalf of russian interests in ukraine. the podesta group did not confirm it was one of those companies. the firm says it has fully cooperated with the special counsel's office and taken every possible step to provide documentation that confirms compliance with the law. >>> tech giants will tell congress today about the extent of russian efforts to influence last year's election through social media. facebook is expected to tell them about a russia group called the internet research agency that posted more than 80,000 times on facebook before and after the election. those posts may have reached as many as 126 million users. twitter plans to tell the committee it closed more than 2700 accounts linked to the same group of russian operatives. >>> investigators in niger are working to find the organizers of

he was chairman of podesta group. it came to light podesta group had not fully disclosed its actions. >> 6abc has the very latest on the mueller investigation and the charges against paul manafort and rick gates. there you can feed the rule text of the indictment. >>> in other news tonight a suspected child rapist is behind bars accused of preying upon young boys in delaware county. and authorities fear there are more victims still out there. "action news" reporter chad pradelli is live outside of the courthouse in media. chad. >> reporter: rick investigators here in delaware county have identified nearly a half dozen victims but they worry that number could explode and they want viewers to take a close look at michael cripps. michael cripps is charged with sexually assaulting five children dating back to 2012. some as young as five years old. cripps hid his face as he was taken to jail. >> considering the allegations you can't show your face. >> reporter: cripps responded with a string of expletives too graphic for b

group. podesta's firm has since amended that paperwork.ws up in the manafort indictment unsealed on monday described as quote company b. >> 39 minutes past the hour. everyone knows slavery was the cause behind the civil war so why did the white house chief of staff say this? >> the lack of ability to compromise led to the civil war and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand. >> on both sides. comments from john kelly. next. oh, look... another anti-wrinkle cream in no hurry to make anything happen. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair works in just one week. with the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce wrinkles. neutrogena®. you wof your daily routine, so why treat your mouth any differently? complete the job with listerine® help prevent plaque, early gum disease, bad breath and kill up to 99.9% of germs. listerine® bring out the bold™ >>> all right. president trump will reveal his pick for fed chair tomorrow. it looks like current chief janet yellen may be out of a job. leaving the u.s. central bank as one of the mos

the possible collusion by the podesta group and maybe being investigated now by mueller. there's things out there that could have accumulated a fact that might influence the election. >> host: for silent voters that don't get pulled, do think they're mostly trump supporters, how would you describe those silent voters you don't think it pulled enough? >> caller: that's interesting. i think there is a group of voters out there so fearful they will be attacked because of their politics and because the other side has had an identity politics has taken over. so they said i don't want my politics to be known, i'm want d then they show up in droves. >> host: i appreciate the question. >> guest: the silent trumpet voter before the election we get these questions and i would say if there was a group of silent trump voters it would need to be a large number in key states for it to matter. i think that's part of what happened said there are groups of trump supporters and minnesota, michigan and wisconsin that were being picked up in the polls. maybe because they were not frequent vo

powerful democratic lobbyist tony podesta stepping down from his own lobbying firm, the podesta group. robert mueller investigating if podesta fully disclosed his work for a ukrainian group also tied to paul manafort. he says he is cooperating with mueller's team. his brother, john podesta, served as hillary clinton's campaign manager. >>> also breaking tonight, major storm damage across the northeast. millions reeling from heavy rains and hurricane-strength winds. flood waters sweeping a home down the river, right there in warren, new hampshire. at its peak, more than 1 million customers in seven states without electricity. that system has now moved off the coast tonight. glad about that. >>> there is still much more ahead on "world news tonight" this monday. the allegations against kevin spacey. an actor accusing him of a sexual advance when he was just a teenager. tonight, kevin spacey's response, and that response is now igniting a firestorm. >>> also, the headline just in late today. a former nfl player dead at the age of 30. >>> and our made in america series is back tonight, ju

>> not as much as the podesta group. of the firm that carries his name chiefly because it was reported last week that the podesta group had come under the lens of robert mueller and his team. in the indictment yesterday for paul manafor donald trump's campaign chairman. the company of the podesta group was listed anonymously as company be for having shared $2 million in funds for lobbying work for the same ukrainian interests mister manaford was representing which was laundered through offshore accounts. it is worth noting neither podesta has been charged with anything and mister manaford entered a not guilty plea yesterday. stuart: following the indictment of paul manis a before do you think donald trump has anything to worry about as the investigation of russia goes forward? >> mister trump had something to worry about the minute a special counsel is appointed and grand juries impaneled because any time that happens the plane of action in washington shifts 45 °. many people on your staff will have to get lawyers. it wil

and also company b, the podesta group. colleagues yesterday that he was stepping down after company b, the podesta group, the group that he and his brother, john, formed in 19 8 was described as seeming to know a little bit more about what manafort and gates were doing in concealing the identity of a foreign power, that they were representing and lobbying and seeming to know a lot about how involved paul manafort and rick gates were in there. remember that one of the major charges and counts against manafort and gates is that they defrauded the u.s. government by not revealing and by working to conceal their role representing a powerful political regime. and this is, by the way, a pro russia ukraine power. >> right. >> so not disclosing that is a big deal. the fact that it's connected to russia is a big deal. the fact that it was a source of a lot of funds that paul manafort is alleged not to have disclosed is also interesting. but back to tony, quickly, what tony's firm is alleged to have done is to have known that paul ma

stepped away from that company because it was revealed yesterday that company a and company b of the podesta groupocratic/republican establishment that donald trump's been talking about. brian: let's go to a couple of excerpts in your book that we think need to be highlighted. one is this: this is actually page 210 in your book. ties between two key leaders in the oakland group met with a leader in al-qaeda in al-qaeda islamic. there's evidence from getting toxic chemicals and gases. give me context for this. >> the fbi sent the a team of agents to hamburg, germany for the g2 conference of industrialized states, and there were a lot of protests at that time in germany, and these -- this a antifa group that we're talking about was there part of the protest, and then they started meeting in secret with al-qaeda operatives and isis operatives. steve: and the fbi knows about this? >> and the fbi not only knows about it, but then did a report, which i reported in my book, that they sent to the director of the fbi. steve: that's scary stuff. >> that's very scary. what it's saying, essentially, is that w

tony podesta is now stepping down from his lobbying group because he is being investigated by the special counsel. as we have been reporting the probe into tony podesta and his lobbying group came about after mueller started looking into manafort's finances. nbc even pointed out podesta's group worked with manafort on a campaign, and nbc news even adds that mueller could be looking into whether podesta and his company violated fera. and poll lit at this co. is reporting that tony and john and blumenthal were all conveniently together this weekend at hillary clinton's birthday party in washington. wonder what everybody talked about? avenue revelations that the clinton campaign and dnc paid almost $10 million to help spread anti-trump russia propaganda. now susan collins is saying that the dnc chair women need to retestify about the lying dossier that was meant to influence the american people on the eve of an election. watch this. >> they absolutely need to be re-called. it's difficult to imagine that a campaign chairman, that the head of the dnc would not know of an expenditure of this ma

the podesta group conducts due diligence.ce and disclosure regulation at all times." we know there's more to the investigation. let's bring in the panel. byron york, chief political correspondent at the "washington examiner." mollie hemingway, senior editor at "the federalist." charles lane, opinion writer for "the washington post." byron, you wrote a column about this. is there a sense on capitol hill that this is turning? >> i think the change in tone we are seeing. these committees investigating this, it's not the mueller investigation but the congressional investigation. i think we are hearing more about russia and less about collusion. if you look at public statements of the people running this, they are talking more about the active measures russia took, like the facebook ads. these are in dispute about things we know about. from what i've heard, talking to a number of people involved, doesn't seem to be much evidence pointing them toward collusion. and when you get something like the uranium deal, it takes it further f

so i think some of these firms like the podesta group now knee-deep in it. it will expand.hat does that mean? as we look threw all of this, you sort of start to get this picture that there are russians hiring americans to help them with all kinds of things. whether it is lobbying, improving their image, trying to make connections in washington, one way or the other, everybody has done something some point in time. it is starting to feel like that. is that inherently wrong? >> that is inherently right. melissa: is it unlawful, is it immoral, where is the law in all this? >> the law in this can be a minor one. well, they didn't register. they didn't disclose that they were working for this ukrainian group, nominally ukrainian group and that's a pretty, you know, you can be sent to jail for five years but nobody is and those non-disclosure violations are rarely even prosecuted. so, that's the small part. the big part is, there has been this network of clinton people, the clinton foundation is involved, and all these russians, even, john podesta was involved in it. a group that

tony podesta, the democratic powerhouse lobbyist who announces he's leaving his own firm, the podesta group which bears his name. it seems democrats, too, will have something to fear from the mueller juggernaut. but mr. podesta has not been charged with anything. kennedy: his brother got vased shown at his head on election night and he had to come out and give that speech because hillary clinton refused co-to concede. reporter: there you go covering the waterfront again. kennedy: they call me an emotional lands skypeer, james. now we go to my uranium party panel. guy benson is here web's joined by comedian joe devito, and tom shillue. welcome, everyone. so much to get into. i will let you take first crack. ben: the big questions are about papadopoulos, manafort and gates what they have to offer the prosecutors and mueller. if they information that points to collusion, now is the time to get it off their chest and get the best deal for themselves. so that's the concern inside the white house. kennedy: manafort and gates pled not guilty. ben: they are going to fight fit which may suggest they

i would also note that we had a sudden and unexpected resignation of the head of the podesta group, john podesta's brother from his lobbying firm which we know from reporting by tucker carlson of our network and others, was working closely with manafort during this period in question. there may be more to come on that as well. it bears watching. could have been for health reasons for all we know. it was sudden and unexpected which makes you think this is something to watch. >> bret: as always, thank you. is this the beginning or end of the mueller investigation? let me know on twitter @bretbaier. use the hashtag #specialreport or on facebook at facebook.com/bretebaiersr. at this hour, the secretaries of state and defense are testifying before a senate panel about the president's power to fight terrorism around the globe and efforts by congress to weigh in. mike emanuel is monitoring the hearing on the authorization for the use of military force. aumf. joints of the details. >> some lawmakers are saying it's time for a serious conversation about congress' role in authorizing the use of mi

you have those two brothers both getting it from different ways in that case in the podesta group which is a bipartisan lobbying firm the bigger story for me is what is happening with mueller. it was not so obscure in washington dc. it is a top bipartisan firm. what we are we're hearing right now is that it involves registration. you are bringing a very important point. and by the way the entities were funneling money to the clinton foundation. this is a lot of layers here. she was using an unsecured device rather. that people could break into. there was worries that they were breaking into their devices. in going into the organization when she was secretary of state. they were trying to get access. and in one instance a female russian spy is a false identity. in order to get intelligence on the state department. time and again we need to jump on this. it was vulnerable traveling the world. and now we have a russia of course try to get close to hillary clinton as secretary of state. we do not know who hacked into her device but we do know that from old gym coming -- and james james come

- regarding manafort pre-donald trump, pre-campaign, this goes back to 2006-2012, he hired the podesta groups a democrat firm, tony podesta, the most powerful brother of john podesta, hiring that firm because he is trying to influence a democratic president, nothing to do with donald trump, this is the irony, of all the democrats involved in this framework during a democratic administration it was supposed to be about trump. this is where democrats once again have not just let their base down but misled them, lied to them. they know what it is like to be misled. democrats were expecting is this huge thing about trump and they were going to get them and that is not going to occur. i think there will be more indictments, mike flynn had an illustrious career, an awful situation for him but he has been involved in some shenanigans, that will come up and mister podesta will find himself, he is behaving as though he expect something to happen. >> we were talking the end of the week before this information leaked out, talking about democrats and russian collusion, the impacting of them. now we have

his investigation to include this man, veteran washington lobbyist tony podesta and his firm the podesta group for business conducted in ukraine. podesta is the brother of the clinton campaign manager john podesta, who is not a part of this. according to the report the investigation into him and his company began as a fact finding mission into a ukrainian non-profit and paul manafort's role into the campaign. this has now morphed into a criminal inquiry into whether the firm violated the foreign agent's registration act. here to talk about all of it tonight one of the coauthors of that report. so, julia, let's talk about this and that tony podesta has been caught up with this means what about the mueller investigation? >> well, you know, i was just thinking brian about this new york city times piece talking about how it's become political on the hill. if anyone is concerned that mueller's investigation is politically motivated they need look no further than this probe into tony podesta. his brother worked as hillary clinton's campaign manager. he's been trumpeted liberal democratic causes for

i will tell you, in looking at the foreign registration for this ukrainian company, the podesta group comes up. >> dana: is mueller close to being finished? sarah sanders said that from the podium. >> i am not sure if they're speculating on that, or if their lawyers are in contact with mueller and getting some sense of that. this seems like an open gambit to me. the using best to get more information. i don't think there is a reason unless they are getting something from mueller to think this is anything but at the opening stages. >> dana: very interesting. we appreciate your giving you being here. who is the other person indicted with paul manafort? we mentioned him, rick gates. in the background of long metaphor aid. the indictment, including one reaction we said, this shows there should be another russian investigation. freedom. one nation in all of human history was built on that bedrock, ours. freedom has made america exceptional, but it can only last if you and i choose to act as people of character. forging character has been the pursuit of hillsdale college since 1844. ♪ let's

his investigation to include this man, veteran washington lobbyist tony podesta and his firm the podesta group for business conducted in ukraine. podesta is the brother of the clinton campaign manager john podesta who is not a part of this. according to the report, the investigation into tony podesta and his company began as a fact finding mission into a ukrainian nonprofit and paul manafort's role in the campaign. quote, this has now morphed into a criminal inquiry into whether the firm violated the foreign agents registration act. this is just one front of the russia story. and here to talk about all of it tonight, one of the coauthors of that report we just cited, nbc news national security and justice reporter julia anzly, also wall street attorney jill wine-banks, assistant former watergate counsel, and msnbc legal analyst. so, julia, let's talk about this and that tony podesta has been caught up in this means what about the mueller investigation? >> well, you know, i was just thinking, brian, about this "the new york times" piece how it has become political on the hill. if anyone is conc

podesta group, they were mentioned obliquely in the second indictment, with the conviction. rge papadopoulos. there is a reference to two the podesta ding group, that were seeking to this russian/ukrainian manafort.effort of possible nk it is since mentioned in the charging documents, tony podesta and the group could get swept within mueller's investigation. whether mueller will go further dossier is a very good question. mean, the charges against manafort really are quite emoved from the russian collusion allegation, so going after the dossier allegations be any more a feel from that. politico noting tony podesta stepping down from the works at iant that he amid the mueller probe. headline we showed earlier in show. before we leave, the definitions you have gone over collusion, can you explain obstruction of justice? ow that is defined, how one would be found guilty of obstruction of justice? guest: yeah, this is another rather loose talk about what constitutes a crime of obstruction. saying, people loosely now we have obstruction, the president fired james comey, for exampl