Bill Barr’s DOJ argues in court that ‘Trump lied to Mueller’: MSNBC chief legal correspondent
Composite image of Attorney General Bill Barr, President Donald Trump and former special counsel Robert Mueller (screengrab)

The Department of Justice's trial of longtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone features evidence the president lied to special counsel Robert Mueller.


"Extraordinary development inside a courtroom in Washington today featuring opening arguments in the trial of Roger Stone," MSNBC chief legal correspondent Ari Melber reported Wednesday.

"Prosecutors with the Trump Justice Department's laying out a case suggesting President Trump may have committed a new crime in office by lying to the Mueller probe. This was all part of the blockbuster opening statement by former Mueller prosecutor himself Aaron Zelinsky now a regular DOJ line prosecutor," Melber reported. "He’s telling jurors they can convict Stone for lying to Congress because stone lied about the fact that he twice spoke to Trump before the 2016 election, something Trump shot down by telling Mueller, 'I have no recollection of any communication with Stone.'"

"We’ve heard allegations Trump was lying about that before. What’s new here is that it is Trump’s own Justice Department insisting that it’s false in court and saying they have the evidence to prove it," he noted.

For analysis, Melber interviewed Politico senior White House reporter Darren Samuelsohn, who was in the courtroom.

"Let’s start with the Trump justice the president putting forward evidence that, reasonably you could infer, is meaning Trump lied to Mueller," Melber said.

"Reasonably you could infer that. They don’t charge Donald Trump, they never have charged Donald Trump, but today in court they did provide evidence that Roger Stone was on the phone talking to Donald Trump in the days after the DNC hack went public."

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