I think maybe you do both I think you might want to listen I don't there's nothing wrong with listening if somebody called from a country Norway we have information on your opponent oh I think I'd want to hear if you want that kind of interference in our elections it's not an interference they have information I think I'd take it Trump welcoming the potential crime of collusion and echoing his son Donald Trump Jr's actual response of course to that infamous email from a Russian intermediary promised the dirt he said I love it team Trump's story was of course the Don Jr was just a good kid and didn't know the rules this was a sort of a clueless defense in molars report we learned the government would have a concern about whether they could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the people at that famous Trump Tower meeting had the kind of knowledge that their conduct was on lawful that is a fair or even charitable reading of they're clueless defense but will it work now because if you haven't been watching the news and I think you are watch the news you know that everyone is heard about the fact that you can't take these things of value it's illegal we were just talking about at the top of the show the president knows that Attorney General bar last month take a look what if a foreign adversary let's now say North Korea offers a presidential candidate dirt on a competitor in 2020 do you agree with me that campaign should immediately contact the FBI if a foreign intelligence service or a representative of foreign government says we have dirt on your opponent should they say I love it let's meet in contact the FBI on intelligence service does yes yes that's no chumps Attorney General we know the Donald Trump knows about this because in this interview that's giving him so much heartburn he made a point to say he would also overrule his own FBI director if any public official or member of any campaign is contacted by any nation state or anybody acting on behalf of a nation state about influencing or interfering election and that's something that the FBI would want to know about let me call the FBI give me a break life doesn't work or director says that's what should happen the FBI director is wrong the FBI director is right and not only is this well understood federal law there's even precedent for how it would go down you may have heard about this it's pretty interesting take a look at what happened in the 2000 election former congressman tom downy who prepares the vice president for debates received a package of materials Wednesday containing notes and a videotape gore advisers say Downey realizing he shouldn't have the material immediately turned it over to his lawyer who in turn passed it on to the FBI former congressman downing is here to discuss this exclusively and we'll give you a little more context the gore campaign of course was not the victor after the Supreme Court resolved one of the closest US elections in history but Downey says he was of course doing what he understood to be the lawful requirement and the right thing telling the FBI about the material received thinking that yes it could even be part of a crime this is a point that speaker Pelosi herself raised just today this is even foreign government doesn't even find government that's what you do there is a sense of decency about fruit from the forbidden tree ill-gotten gain former congressman and Al Gore advisor Tom Downey is here with me now exclusively thanks for coming on the beat about this my pleasure you are now a fascinating footnote newly unearthed in the news on this story you've done many things in your life but on this story walk us through why you made that decision how quickly you called the FBI and what you think watching all this well the fact is it was quite clear to me when I saw the debate materials and the video that this was Bush campaign material that I should not have and I called my lawyer we talked about what we were going to do with it we turned it over immediately he eventually turned it over to the FBI they came and interviewed me that day and the curious thing about it was I had to explain what the crime to the FBI agent but the fact is that on that point they came out and saw you how soon on that afternoon saying that for our four hours so your reaction as a campaign operative was this might be criminal because it could be stolen to at a minimum to help another side and you call the authorities and their reaction is this is important they come out same day correct and not only that but Louis Freeh who was the director of the FBI at the time became the agent of record huh so then what well not only did I have to turn it over but then I had to recuse myself from any further campaign activity it was clear to me that no one would believe that I hadn't read the material or watch the video so to make sure that we made a clean break of this so that there could be a free and fair and honest debate I didn't participate in the campaign after that let's take a look at that actually because we read what you said at the time people are cynical about the political process I happen to believe it is a noble and honorable profession but if the American people are to believe that we must act honorably and that is what I've tried to do here so to put you in the strike zone middle of the plate ball down the field question how does what you did in that moment differ from what the president says he wants in 2020 yeah well the president is playing by a different set of baseball rules under the presidents if he were pitching and he hits you you'd be out the fact is that that's not how we play baseball and that's not how a president should govern the fact is as the commander-in-chief he should set an example not be prepared to win at any cost allow foreign entities to influence a campaign it's shocking as your Steve Israel said in the earlier segment the fact is it's both illegal and immoral you put it so starkly let's listen to the other time this came up when Jared Kushner struggled with a very similar question about what you just said was a moral obligation as well as a legal one take a look my question to you is why didn't you pick up the phone and call the FBI it was an email that said Russia that said the Russian government try to help but why didn't you do that Jonathan we're in a place now where people are playing Monday Morning Quarterback and they're being so self-righteous had there been something that actually wasn't a fairy said that meeting that came up maybe we would have done something different but the reality is is that the meeting was a total waste of time would really have happened again I don't know it's hard to do hypotheticals but the the reality is is that we were not given anything that was salacious I don't know how hypotheticals are he went he went to a pretty good law school so he's done some hypotheticals before when you see that when you see the president's comments do you think at a certain point this is not just ignorance or willful blindness but something more sinister are you not prepared to go that far well in the president's case I think speaker Pelosi said today that he really doesn't have the capacity to understand right and wrong and I believe that's true in Jared Kushner's case the idea that your naivete would allow you to ignore what is law and precedent I mean anytime you take an important meeting in a campaign there are lawyers there to explain to you what's what's legal and what isn't either they didn't avail themselves of that talent or they ignored it and in either case it's unacceptable behavior and these are folks who've worked with a lot of lawyers of in Trump is nothing if not known for litigation most litigious candidate in American history kosher as I mentioned is is a lawyer himself congressman having lived through this in a Erie you know echo of some of this as the president says well that's not how it works you showed through your actions how you how you think it should work and we appreciate you telling a story here and newly relevant tonight hey I'm already melbourne from MSNBC you can see more of our videos right here or better yet subscribe to our youtube channel below you could have been anywhere in the world that you're here with us and we appreciate that
