>> Stephen: MY FIRST GUEST TONIGHT IS THE PERSON WHO
ACTUALLY WROTE THE RULES ON SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATIONS.
HE HAS SOME THOUGHTS ON THE MUELLER REPORT.
PLEASE WELCOME FORMER ACTING SOLICITOR GENERAL OF THE UNITED
STATES NEAL KATYAL!
( CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ) NEAL, GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN.
NEAL, WE'VE GOT A LONG WAY TO GO AND A SHORT TIME TO GET THERE,
SO LET'S GET RIGHT INTO IT.
YOU WROTE THE RULES ON SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATIONS.
HOW MUCH OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT?
( LAUGHTER ) >> I'M FEELING PRETTY GOOD
TONIGHT BECAUSE, BASICALLY, I THINK THIS IS THE END OF THE
BEGINNING NOT THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
THE SPECIAL COUNSEL REGULATIONS ARE DEALING WITH THE CENTRAL
PROBLEM WHICH IS THE PRESIDENT AND HIS ATTORNEY GENERAL CONTROL
PROSECUTION ENTIRELY UNDER OUR CONSTITUTION, SO IF YOU HAVE A
CORRUPT ATTORNEY GENERAL, THERE IS ANT WAY TO STOP HIM FROM
DOING THE PRESIDENT'S BIDDING.
ALL YOU CAN DO IS SHED SUNLIGHT INTO THAT PROCESS AND THAT'S
WHAT WE SAW TODAY.
WE HAVE THE SPECIAL COUNSEL REPORT, SEVERAL HUNDRED PAGES
LONG.
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL CAN STOP THAT INVESTIGATION, EVEN THOUGH
THE PRESIDENT SAID THIS IS A HOAX, STOP THIS THING, WITCH
HUNT AND THE LIKE.
SO WE NOW HAVE THE FACTS AND IT'S NOW SET UP FOR CONGRESS AND
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO EVALUATE AS OPPOSED TO A WORLD IN WHICH
THERE'S A COVERUP.
>> Stephen: YOU HAD A CHANCE TO LOOK AT THIS TODAY.
THIS IS YOUR BABY.
IT'S THE FIRST TIME YOU'VE SEEN IT.
DOES IT HAVE YOUR EYES?
IS THIS WHAT YOU INTENDED?
WHEN YOU WROTE THE RULES, THIS IS THE KIND OF REPORT YOU
INTENDED TO HAVE WRITTEN?
>> ABSOLUTELY.
THERE ARE A COUPLE OF THINGS WE DIDN'T ANTICIPATE.
WE THOUGHT ABOUT CORRUPT ATTORNEY GENERALS AND NEFARIOUS
ONES.
BUT BARR IS MORE NEFARIOUS THAN WE ANTICIPATED.
>> Stephen: IN WHAT WAY?
HE WROTE A 19 PAGE MEMO THAT BASICALLY SAID THE PRESIDENT
CAN'T OBSTRUCT JUSTICE THAT IT'S BASICALLY CONSTITUTIONALLY
IMPOSSIBLE.
>> Stephen: THIS WAS BEFORE HIS AUDITION?
>> EXACTLY.
( LAUGHTER ) THE TRUMP LEGAL TEAM PARROTED
EVERY PART OF THAT.
YOU CAN READ THIS MUELLER REPORT IS LIKE A 400 PAGE EPIC SUB
TWEET OF THE BARR MEMO SAYING A PRESIDENT CAN'T OBSTRUCT
JUSTICE.
>> Stephen: WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE WAY HE CHARACTERIZED IT
IN HIS LETTER AS OPPOSED TO WHAT YOU'RE SEEING TODAY?
DID HE READ THE SAME REPORT THAT WE DID?
>> NO.
( LAUGHTER ) I MEAN, YOU KNOW, STRIKINGLY, ON
PAGE 1, MUELLER SAYS, IN HIS REPORT, I BELIEVE A SITTING
PRESIDENT CAN'T BE INDICTED.
AND ON PAGE 2, HE SAYS, BECAUSE OF THAT, I'M NOT GOING TO
INCRIMINATE THE PRESIDENT.
NOW, BARR GAVE A LONG PRESS CONFERENCE THIS MORNING.
DID WE HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT THAT?
NO.
ON PAGE 2, HE ALSO SAYS, I'M NOT GOING TO EXONERATE THE PRESIDE
PRESIDENT, I DON'T HAVE THE FACTS TO DO THAT.
DID BARR SAY A WORD ABOUT THAT?
SO I KIND OF FEEL LIKE BARR, IF HE TELLS YOU, DON'T SEE THIS
MOVIE, YOU PROBABLY SHOULD SEE IT BECAUSE HE SAW A DIFFERENT
MOVIE THAN THE ONE THAT ACTUALLY EXISTS.
( LAUGHTER ) >> Stephen: NOW, IS THE
OBSTRUCTION ISSUE NOW UNOBSTRUCTED?
DO WE FINALLY KNOW WHY MUELLER CAME TO HIS CONCLUSION.
IS IT THE O.L.C. DECISION FROM THE '70s HE'S CITING
ESSENTIALLY.
>> TWO THINGS, NUMBER ONE, WHICH IS THE DESAYINGS THAT SAYS A
SITTING PRESIDENT CAN'T WITH BE INDICTED, AND THE SECOND THING
THAT THE PRESIDENT TRIED TO OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE BUT HE
FAILED BECAUSE HIS FOLKS WOULDN'T CARRY IT OUT.
I THINK THEY'RE ONE OF THE MOST CREATIVE LEGAL TEAMS IN THE
COUNTRY BUT I NEVER HEARD OF THAT DEFENSE WHICH IS YOU'RE SO
INCOMPETENT THAT YOU COULDN'T OBSTRUCTIOOBSTRUCT JUSTICE.
WHAT DOES THAT SAY ABOUT OUR PRESIDENT?
( CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ) >> Stephen: ARE YOU SURPRISED
THE WORDING IN THE REPORT -- I THOUGHT THE MOST SHOCKING THING
IN THE REPORT WAS THEM WRITING IN THE REPORT THAT, YOU KNOW, WE
WOULD HAVE FOUND HIM INNOCENT IF WE COULD, BUT IT'S NOT POSSIBLE
TO CLEAR HIM OF THESE CRIMES?
>> I AGREE WITH YOU, AND IT'S SUCH, I THINK, A REAL STATEMENT
ABOUT BARR THAT THE MUELLER REPORT SAYS THAT VERY CLEARLY.
THEY'RE BASICALLY SAYING WE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO EXONERATE
HIM, WE COULDN'T DO IT, THE FACTS WEREN'T THERE.
>> Stephen: BECAUSE IF THEY COULD EXONERATE HIM, THEY
WOULDN'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE OFFICE OF LEGAL COUNSEL RULING
OR IF THAT IS CORRECT INDICT THE PRESIDENT.
>> ABSOLUTELY, AND I'LL POINT YOU TO ONE OTHER THING.
WE LAWYERS LOOK AT FOOTNOTES AND THERE'S A FOOTNOTE 1091 --
>> Stephen: I REMEMBER THAT ONE.
( LAUGHTER ) >> AND WHAT MUELLER SAYS IS YOU
CAN'T INDICT A SITTING PRESIDENT NOW BECAUSE OF THESE O.L.C.
OPINIONS, BUT AFTER HE LEAVES OFFICE, AND, BOY, THAT'S A CLUE.
>> Stephen: IF YOU CAN'T INDICT STATING.
, WHY INVESTIGATE?
WHAT'S THE PURPOSE?
>> TWO REASONS.
ONE, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT AFTER THE PRESIDENT LEAVES OFFICE,
FEDERAL CRIMINAL CHARGES COULD BE BROUGHT, AND I READ THAT
FOOTNOTE FOR MUELLER BASICALLY SAYING I THINK THEY SHOULD BE
BROUGHT.
THAT'S NUMBER ONE.
NUMBER TWO IS OUR FOUNDERS ALWAYS SAID EVEN IF YOU CAN'T
INDICT A SITTING PRESIDENT, YOU CAN HAVE CONGRESS IMPEACH OR
INVESTIGATION AND COME TO A DECISION ABOUT WHAT ACTUALLY
HAPPENED.
SO THIS PUTS THE BALL IN CONGRESS' COURT, AT LEAST UNTIL
THE PRESIDENT IS NO LONGER PRESIDENT.
>> Stephen: DID YOU THINK ANYONE ELSE WAS GOING TO BE
ARRESTED?
WERE YOU SURPRISED THAT DON, JR. OR JARED KUSHNER WEREN'T
ARRESTED?
BECAUSE I HEARD YOU THOUGHT MAYBE THERE WERE MORE ARRESTS
COMING DOWN.
>> I WAS A LITTLE SURPRISED.
I THINK THE EVIDENCE ON JUNIOR WAS FOLLOWS -- THERE WAS THIS
TRUMP TOWER MEETING, AND THAT MEETING WAS CALLED BECAUSE A
RUSSIAN CALLED JUNIOR SAND SAID, HEY, I'VE GOT DIRT ON HILLARY
CLINTON.
AND HE SAID, IF IT IS WHAT YOU SAY, I'D LOVE IT.
>> Stephen: I HAVE DIRT ON HILLARY CLINTON THAT'S IN
KEEPING WITH THE RUSSIAN ATTEMPTS TO HELP YOUR FATHER.
>> EXACTLY.
AND THE STATEMENT WAS PUT OUT BY JUNIOR THAT SAID THAT TRUMP
TOWER MEETING WAS PRIMARILY ABOUT ADOPTIONS.
NOW, MOST PEOPLE THOUGHT THAT WAS A LIE AT THE TIME.
WHAT WE LEARNED IN THE MUELLER REPORT TODAY IS TRUMP WAS THE
ONE THAT ACTUALLY DIRECTED THE LIE AND JUNIOR PUT THE WORD
"PRIMARILY" IN, SO IT WASN'T ALL ABOUT ADOPTIONS, BUT PRIMARILY.
SO I PLEAD GUILTY, I GOT THIS WRONG.
SO TWO GREATER VARIABLES, WHO HAS A GREATER PROCLIVITY TO LAW
AND WHO HAS A LESS RESPECT FOR THE LAW.
AND BETWEEN TRUMP AND TRUMP, JR., SENIOR TRUMPS JUNIOR.
( APPLAUSE ) >> Stephen: THANKS FOR BEING
HERE FOR THE BEGINNING OF THE ENDING.
NEAL KATYAL, BACK WITH OUR FRIEND SAMANTHA BEE!