With David Folkenflik
Top Democrats go face-to-face with Trump. Prison time for Michael Cohen. Trump’s border wall and U.S.-Mexico talks. Our roundtable on the week’s news.
Guests
Vivian Salama, White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal. ( @vmsalama)
Olivier Knox, president of the White House Correspondents Association, chief Washington correspondent for Sirius XM radio. ( @OKnox)
Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. ( @JackBeattyNPR)
From The Reading List
Wall Street Journal: “ Trump Aides Warn Him Against Intervening in Huawei Case” — “Despite President Trump’s statement that he might intervene in a criminal case against the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co., such a move would break from longstanding tradition and advisers have warned him that his options are limited, according to people familiar with the matter.
“When news broke last week of the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, threatening the president’s trade talks with China, he asked for options, according to one person, and advisers told him the arrest and potential prosecution of Ms. Meng was essentially out of his hands.
“The arrest was a Justice Department matter, they said, and the White House should stay out of it for now, this person said. There are no immediate plans to intervene in the matter, officials added.”
CNN: “ Trump says he never told former lawyer Michael Cohen to break the law” — “President Donald Trump publicly broke his silence Thursday morning on the sentencing of his former personal attorney and “fixer” Michael Cohen.
“The President did not dispute directing Cohen to make payments to women who accused him of having an affair in order to keep them quiet, but said he did not direct Cohen to break the law while doing so.
“‘I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law. He was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law,’ Trump tweeted.
“‘It is called “advice of counsel,” and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made,’ he added.”
Los Angeles Times: “ Trump’s border wall, long an incendiary issue, hasn’t come up in talks with U.S., new Mexican leader says” — “Even though President Trump continues to insist Mexico will pay, or is paying, for a border wall, he apparently hasn’t discussed it with the nation’s new leadership.
“‘We haven’t touched on the matter [of the wall] in any conversation,’ Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador told reporters here Thursday, a day after his first telephone call with Trump since his Dec. 1 inauguration. ‘It was a respectful conversation, in terms of friendship.’
“Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said on Twitter that the discussions between the two nations have centered instead on creating economic opportunities in Central America, the source of the so-called caravans of migrants that Trump has portrayed as an attempted ‘invasion of U.S. territory
“The Trump administration has been pressuring the government here to take steps to stem the flow of Central American migrants through Mexico, which for decades has been a transit corridor for those seeking to enter the United States. Central Americans now outnumber Mexican nationals arrested for illegal entry along the U.S. border.”
Tania Ralli produced this show for broadcast.
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