Special Counsel Investigating Trump for Possible Destruction of Justice
HARLOW: New this morning, a major development in the Russia investigation. President Trump squarely in the sights of Special Counsel Bob Mueller. The "Washington Post" is reporting that now Mueller's investigation is looking at the president for possible obstruction of justice. It comes as CNN learns that Mueller will interview several top intelligence officials as soon as this week as part of the probe. Those include director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and NSA director, Admiral Mike Rogers.</s>BERMAN: Last week, Coats and Rogers both denied to the Senate Intelligence Committee that they were pressured by the president to intervene in an FBI probe of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the election. And the president this morning wrote, "They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story," he's not talking about Coats and Rogers there. He's talking about others. "Found zero proof, so now they go to obstruction of justice on the phony story, nice." And also this, "You are witnessing the single greatest witch hunt in American political history led by some very bad and conflicted people." Here to discuss, CNN White House correspondent Athena Jones and Paul Callan, CNN legal analyst. The White House, Athena, going very hard, directly after the special counsel's investigation.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. That's right. With those two tweets this morning, this is not the first time we've heard the president call these investigations in general a witch hunt, but he's made it very clear how he feels about this latest report. This is exactly the kind of headline that the president was trying so hard to avoid, a headline saying that he himself is under investigation. But it's important to remind our viewers that it's the president's own words and actions that have raised the question of obstruction of justice. Take a listen to what he had to say to NBC about the firing of James Comey and then what Comey had to say about his firing.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story.</s>JAMES COMEY, FORMER FBI DIRECTOR: There's no doubt that it's a fair judgment, it's my judgment that I was fired because of the Russia investigation.</s>JONES: And so there you see that it was the president himself saying that Russia was on his mind when he fired the former FBI director. And this isn't even touching on that separate conversation that Comey says he had with the president, where he says the president urged him to let the Flynn investigation go, the investigation into his former national security adviser. So it is the president's own words and deeds that have helped raise this issue -- John.</s>HARLOW: All right, Athena Jones. Thank you very much. And Paul Callan, to you, the legal side of all of this. What stands out to you most? I mean, Admiral Rogers and DNI Coats were stonewalling, really, to Congress in all of those questions. Is it possible -- because the "Washington Post" is reporting that it was just shortly after May 9th when Comey was fired that this investigation really branched out into potential obstruction of justice, looking at that. Is it possible that they were not answering questions because they were being questioned by Mueller in this expanded investigation?</s>PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I doubt that that's the reason. I think they were just honoring sort of this traditional idea that, you know, confidentiality applies to presidential discussions, direct presidential discussions. I mean, you know, I find the ultimate irony here with the president saying this is the biggest witch hunt in American history, well, it's his Justice Department that's doing the witch hunt. He's the guy in charge of the Justice Department, which is now investigating him for obstruction of justice. So if it's a witch hunt, his administration started it. This is not emanating from the Democrats. And by the way, it doesn't surprise me that, of course, Mueller would interview the intelligence chiefs. They're going to have relevant information not only on a potential obstruction charge, but if there was collusion with the Russians, who better -- who would have better knowledge of that than American intelligence authorities? They're going to know what American citizens are reaching out overseas and acting properly or improperly. So I'm not surprised that he would interview them at the beginning of his investigation. That's just being a smart prosecutor or a smart investigator.</s>BERMAN: Yes. And one thing to note here, James Comey testified while he was FBI director. The president was under investigation by some interpretations. Now perhaps he is at least being investigated for possible obstruction of justice, so that status may have changed. Paul Callan, Dan Coats, Admiral Rogers, Jeff Sessions refusing to questions, holding out the specter that at some point the White House might try to use executive privilege here. Would executive privilege prevent Bob Mueller forever from getting the information he wants from Jeff Sessions, Dan Coats, Admiral Rogers?</s>CALLAN: No, I think Mueller will be able to get the information from them, even if there's an assertion of executive privilege. There's a process the courts follow. And what it is is Mueller will have to establish in court that the information from them cannot be obtained from other sources, and it is essential to a criminal investigation. In that case, the courts have traditionally said executive privilege falls the need for information in the court system is a greater public interest. And -- so I think in the end he'll get his information.</s>HARLOW: All right, Paul Callan, thank you very much. We appreciate it. Athena Jones at the White House as well. We are waiting for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to speak in just moments. That, of course, comes on a day where we are seeing a lot of unity here at the nation's capital. This is ahead of the big congressional baseball game tonight. What will we hear from her? You'll hear it live right here. Stay with us.