EXCLUSIVE: Senate Majority Whip Cornyn: “This is not about President Trump. This is about Russia versus the United States”
PLUS: Cornyn Says if GOP Healthcare Bill Doesn’t Pass and Democrats Won’t Participate, “We’re Going to Have to Come Up with a Different Plan”
ALSO: Sen. Warner: “A Wide Breadth Between What is Called in the Espionage Business ‘a Useful Idiot’ and Full-Fledged Collusion”
JULY 15, 2017 – This morning on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Jay Sekulow, a member of President Trump’s legal team, reacted to news this week of President Trump’s son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer promising damaging information about Hillary Clinton: “There’s nothing illegal about that meeting.”
“I don’t represent Donald Trump Jr. and I do not know everyone for sure that was at that meeting,” he told moderator Chuck Todd.
Sekulow pointed to former FBI Director James Comey’s leaking of a conversation with the president as “the basis upon which all that started” and that his firing by Trump “cannot raise to the level of obstruction of justice.” Watch the full interview.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, exclusively reacted to the president’s tweet this morning calling the Russia investigation “a hoax”: “It’s a mistake to personalize this to President Trump or Hillary Clinton or anyone else.”
“I understand the president’s frustration when James Comey told him three times he’s not the target of an investigation and he wants that made public. But this is not about President Trump. This is about Russia versus United States,” Cornyn shared.
The senator told Todd that, if the Republican Party’s healthcare bill does not pass, “I assume we’ll keep trying, but at some point, if Democrats won’t participate in the process, then we’re going to have to come up with a different plan.” Watch the full interview.
Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also addressed Trump Jr.’s meeting, telling Todd that the committee is “trying to go about this in a methodical way.”
“I’ve learned that there’s a wide breadth between what is called in the espionage business ‘a useful idiot’ and full-fledged collusion,” he said. Watch the full interview.
According to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finding debuting on this morning’s network broadcast, Trump’s job approval rating in the American counties that fueled his 2016 victory stands at 50 percent. The full NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll will be released later this week.
Joining this morning’s program for insight and analysis were NBC News’ Tom Brokaw, Squire Patton Boggs’ Al Cardenas, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and AEI’s Danielle Pletka.
Read the full transcript of this morning’s “Meet the Press” on MeetThePress.com.
For more from moderator Chuck Todd throughout the week, sign up for the “First Read” newsletter, and subscribe to the “1947: The Meet The Press Podcast” for on-demand interviews.
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