Manafort and Kushner likely incriminated by Reince Priebus in Mueller questioning: analyst

Special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into President Donald Trump's campaign and White House likely gained valuable information from Friday's interview of former chief of staff Reince Priebus. That testimony could not just make Mueller's case against President Trump, could also implicate other top Trump advisors.

"Central to the theory of Bob Mueller's case, is that there was a coverup -- there was a deliberate attempt to hide the true story about what happened in the election," Global editorial director of the Huffington Post, Howard Fineman explained to MSNBC anchor Ari Melber. "And I think central to that is the question of the firing of Jim Comey and the explanations given for it."

"What were the real reasons for the firing and who said what afterwards? And those are the two parts of Mueller's case that I think Reince Priebus can shed the most light on," Fineman predicted. "Then, of course, the whole firing of James Comey, which I think Mueller believes is in itself an act of obstruction of justice, to fire the guy investigating the president. What did Priebus know about it?"

"Also, don't forget, Reince Priebus is not fundamentally a Trump guy," Fineman reminded. "Trump hired him every way, Trump humiliated him every day, six ways to Sunday during his time as chief of staff, no wonder Reince Priebus is happy to testify."

"Happy," Melber noted in reply. "Happy is the word of the day, no question on that."

Melber, who is chief legal correspondent for MSNBC in addition to hosting his own show, queried his guests on what Mueller's team likely asked Priebus.

"I think he would be very interested in Paul Manafort's contacts with anyone in the White House," Melber began.

"What did he and the president talk about last week when they had dinner?" former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti suggested.

"I agree with you, Ari, what have Manafort's contacts been?" Fireman added. "Because you know, he's about to be indicted I think, so you want to know what has the White House been doing to protect him or distance themselves from him."

"What does he know about Cambridge Analytica, that's the data firm that Jared Kushner was operating," recommend Nayyera Haq, White House senior director under President Barack Obama.

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