I was invited to discuss the Mueller Report on Bernie and Sid in the Morning on WABC. Take a listen to hear us unpack the recently released report.

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Sid Rosenberg says Bianchi was “the best commentator on Mueller report”

April 19, 2019

Sid Rosenberg: I’ve been seeing this coverage all day long yesterday, and I go back and forth. I want to hear what they’re saying on MSNBC and Fox News. I saw a lot of people remarking on the Mueller report and William Ball, a lot of people. Most are predictable, you know what they’re going to say before they say it, especially Fox News where they tend to defend Donald Trump. And MSNBC where they malign and they kill him unfairly. But there’s a guy on Fox News, Shepard Smith, and he’s not a big Trump guy to say the least. It’s almost like, what is he doing there? Right, like, what is Shepard doing there? But I happen to like them. And he had a guest on yesterday that I thought was the best guest I saw all day. Anyway, in fact, I texted Joe and I said, I don’t know who this guy is. Bob Bianchi get him on. I know he’s been on with [inaudible] and my boy Shawn Hannity all these times. And I said, Joe’s you got to get this guy on. He’s great. And Joe’s like, okay. And I admitted I had no idea what the guy was. I thought he was great. And then, you got him pretty easily. Right? He must be a big fan of mine.

Joe: He loves you.

Sid Rosenberg: That’s such a lie. Anyway, here he is, he’s an attorney. He does a lot of stuff. I don’t know. Bob, what exactly do you do that you’re so famous? That you’re on TV and Sean Hannity, what do you do?

Robert Bianchi: My God Sid, what a pleasure to be on your show. Well, listen I guess my claim to fame was that I used to run a Prosecutorial agency. I was an Assistant Prosecutor and then I was appointed by the Governor to be the Morse County Prosecutor, which was a great honor and I do criminal defense now. I’m a certified Supreme Court Criminal Trial Attorney for the last five years I’ve been on all the networks. I regularly appear on MSNBC, CNN, Fox News. So, I truly Sid, I’m truly fair and balanced.

Sid Rosenberg: You are, I mean this and I watched probably 11 hours of coverage. It’s coming up my ears. I thought you were the best one I saw. In prepuces the same way I prepuces my conversation with Chris Matthews an hour ago and that is, I like Trump. I didn’t vote for him, but I’m an adult enough to admit that he’s doing a good job and I want him to win again. So, let’s start right there. I like him. I want him to win again. But when Barr comes out a couple of weeks ago and says he’s basically exonerated. And then even yesterday morning I watched that circus from Barr. I really thought the report would come out and he would be almost exonerated, not even close. What am I missing?

Robert Bianchi: Yeah, Sid, you know, my experiences as a Prosecutor and dealing with the media on high profile cases, is messaging is very important for the credibility of your investigation and your institution. So, if you’re going to do a press conference which you should do sparingly and it should be really to be very clear, direct and specific about the facts of the case, you don’t go out and cheerlead right. You don’t go out there. This is the thing that’s been concerning me as a Prosecutor. We have gotten to a point where politics is so infused in prosecution, which is a very toxic cocktail, if you will, where are looking at whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, Conservative, Liberal. I don’t care what side of the spectrum you’re on. We should not be politicking within the prosecutorial system, to use the criminal justice system to go after our enemies and to shield and exonerate the people that we politically-.

Sid Rosenberg: I could not agree more. I cannot agree more. I said all morning long. He may as well have had Rudy Giuliani up there yesterday because William Barr, who’s a very respectful guy, has great history going back many, many years with Bush. I thought he embarrassed himself yesterday.

Robert Bianchi: Well the biggest problem that he had with regard to his credibility? And by the way, I don’t think it really affects the ultimate outcome of the report. The report is what it is, is that he kind of made it appear as if Mueller left the obstruction question to him because Mueller couldn’t figure it out. And that he made his decision and that is not what that report says. It wasn’t left to him at all. Essentially what Mueller was doing, was saying that Donald Trump is the President, let me put it this way, because people get like a lightning rod when you mentioned her name, Hillary Clinton, boom, people have a reaction, Donald Trump, boom, they have a reaction. Any President has article two constitutional powers that the ordinary person, no one else in the country has. For example, the DOJ says you cannot indict a sitting President. Whether you agree with that or don’t agree with that motor is basically saying I, and I think this was really powerful and people were missing this point, Sid, it’s on your show right now. He is saying to call them a criminal, to say he committed a crime when he cannot be indicted, Donald Trump, is unfair to the President or any President for that matter because they don’t have any forum with which to exonerate themselves. So, you’ll tag them with the sticker of being a criminal. But unlike the rest of us, there will be no courtroom to adjudicate the case. So here are 10 instances of issues that we had concern about and now I’m giving it to you, to Congress, and there’s a remedy there if you choose to exercise it. And now I’m out, here are the fact, you do with it what you will.

Sid Rosenberg: Right and look, I’m not Bob Bianchi, Joaquinite author, Right Dollar, or my beautiful wife, Danielle Rosenberg. All great Defense Attorneys. But what I saw, what I read, when I listened to yesterday was collusion, no doubt, no collusion. No obstruction is not really true. In fact, the president tried his darnedest to commit obstruction. He just got really lucky that his minions, Corey Lewandowski, Don McGann, all these guys decided not to do it for him. If any one of those people had done what Donald Trump wanted them to do, he would have been guilty of obstruction, yes or no?

Robert Bianchi: Well, the fact that he even tries it, the substantial step of which he could, even though those guys shielded him and didn’t actually commit the act, but just the idea that he’s trying to could be a crime. But here’s the thing to the, to the President’s defense, if I were his lawyer, first of all, one, he should never give an interview. And that applies to anyone, whether you’re guilty or innocent, that’s just good lawyering. And the second piece, Sid, is that you’ve got to show a corrupt intent. So, if he were to believe because there was no underlying crime, and while you don’t need an underlying crime, it helps with obstruction. But if you were to believe a President that I’m being unfairly attacked, the investigation is bogus. This is a national security problem for us because I can’t move forward my policy agendas and I believe; in fact, this is not right and it’s only political. Well that’s not a corrupt intent. So when you’re asking McGann and you’re asking the Lewandowski, and those guys to go out and do certain things, if you’re not doing it that corrupt intent, it’s still difficult case for a Prosecutor because whenever, as a Prosecutor you have to go in and prove somebody state of mind, you better have rock solid direct evidence.

Sid Rosenberg: Well, I do think those things are true. Again, I’m a fan of Trump and I do think that he was being treated unfairly and Comey and these folks were out to get them. I would ask you this though. If he was completely innocent. Why the day he found out from Sessions, that Mueller was looking into his business. Why would he sit back in his chair, slouched over, by the way, not the big tough guy that he is and say, basically I’m F’ed, I’m done. This Presidency is over.

Robert Bianchi: Well, the fact you asked the question shows there’s there could be reasonable doubt. I don’t know. He could be thinking that. I’m going to get railroaded here. These guys have a, my guy is gone. My guy to protect me from a bad or false investigation has gone. They’re handling it over to a guy who is sympathetic maybe to the Democrats and this guy’s going to do what I’m, I’m playing devil’s advocate here. He is going to do what he can in order to F me. Although listen what Mueller said in the report is when you take what you just said about, what he said to Sessions, when you take all of 10 data points that they considered potential obstruction, they said if you take any one or combination of these, a reasonable person could conclude obstruction occurred. And that’s why very notably in the report, unlike collusion, where they’re very strong and they say no way on collusion, they say we cannot exonerate him on obstruction. That’s lawyer talk for, there’s something here.

Sid Rosenberg: Right. There was something. But look though, legally it’s all over, he’s won, he can do his victory lap. Politically, it could still be a mess with Congress. Is that right? I mean, legally there’s nothing else, you know, it’s done, right?

Robert Bianchi: Yeah. Listen it’s a victory for him that way. And now it goes into the court of public opinion. There is a process in our constitution, i.e., Impeachment. I happen to believe that if the Democrats were to go forward with that, and again, I’m just calling this as a lawyer, not as a political person. They’re not going to have the votes in the Senate to be able to remove him, the impeachment process doesn’t require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. And remember, that was the standard Mueller working with, proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The highest standard to 12 jurors. The highest standard. Even though you don’t need that for the impeachment process politically, I don’t think the Democrats have the votes or the courage to go forward on something where you still haven’t really shown direct corrupt intent.

Sid Rosenberg: I agree. So, on the way out then, Bob, let’s turn this thing around. A lot of Trump supporters are excited because now they feel like the other folks, the Comey’s, you know, the McCabe’s, maybe Loretta Lynch, Maybe Hillary, who knows they’re about to get there, up and comments. Maybe they’re about to go down. Do you think that that is going, I’ve been told by the way that they’re already putting together committees and blah, blah, blah, that now Trump wants some blood? Do you think, A, they’ll do it? And do you think Trump’s got a chance to get some blood here in the end?

Robert Bianchi: The answer to that is no, and it’s very disconcerting to me against it. We get back to the point that people are using the investigatory criminal justice process to go after their enemies. That that decision, just like the decision yesterday, with Mueller is done. Comey is having anything, committed the ultimate prosecutorial sin when he got up exonerating her from the criminal charges, but yet attacked her personally. You never do that. He could have cost her the election for doing that. But listen, Sid, this the way I see it, and you tell me if you think it’s fair, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. If the Mueller report is done and over and exonerates on Trump, he doesn’t have to answer to anything. The Clinton and Comey investigation, I predicted that you’d talk about Hannity, I was defending Hannity and Jeanine Pero all them saying there’s nothing here to charge criminally. Could you potentially think about it? Maybe think about it? Is there some evidence of it? Prosecutors don’t work on cases where maybe could be, should be. They want rock solid direct evidence that that investigation’s closed. This investigation’s closed. Let’s move on.

Sid Rosenberg: Got to tell you, I’m a big fan Bob, thought you were great on TV yesterday. Great view this morning, so hopefully you’ll keep coming back. Great job. Thank you. , thanks.

Robert Bianchi: You got it Sid.

Sid Rosenberg: Bob Bianchi here with Bernie and Sid. We got a bigger guest coming up next. A big surprise, I guess. We’ll take a short break. We’ll find out next.