RUSH: Rudy Giuliani has just told the Drive-By Media that the Trump administration has responded to Robert Mueller’s office and the request Mueller has to have Trump sit down for an interview with the special counsel. We don’t know what the response was. At least I haven’t seen it. But Rudy has signaled that they have responded. And eventually we’ll find out what was in the response.

The Drive-Bys, folks, they’re beside themselves. They still think — and do not doubt me on this — they still think Mueller has some secret that hasn’t leaked that’s gonna lead to Donald Trump being thrown out of office. They still believe it. It’s not a matter of hope. It’s not a matter of wishful thinking. They believe it. They think Mueller’s got it. They’re looking at the Manafort trial, and they’re seeing all kinds of signs that Mueller’s got the smoking gun.

This Manafort trial, we need to go through this just for the entertainment value of it. Well, that’s why I’m here. You haven’t been keeping up with it, but I have been. I’ve been keeping up with more than I can possibly squeeze into this program today. Well, he stole from Manafort. He stole from Manafort to have a mistress. He stole from Manafort to have a pad — a flat, I’m sorry, a flat, in London. He said Manafort did know this and didn’t know that.

Look, here’s the bottom line. Let me give you the bottom line. It appears — and this is important — it appears, despite all of the fog, that the Mueller team does have enough to get a conviction on Manafort without whatever Gates is saying. Now, wait. What Gates is adding to this — we don’t know the value because we don’t know how the jury is going to interpret the guy. Because the guy is being forced to admit that he’s lied for so much of his life but that he’s telling the truth now.

And of course he’s telling the truth now because the prosecutors, why, they gave him a deal. They’ve given him immunity. So of course he’s telling the truth now. He can’t lie. ‘Cause if that’s discovered, the immunity is withdrawn. There are other people studying this trial who believe that Gates is so all over the place with things that he has admitted lying about, now saying he’s telling the truth. “No, I did lie about that, but I didn’t lie about that, no, I was tell the truth then, but…”

Some legal beagles — and this is, again, because the experience we have with some of Mueller’s prosecutors being on the Enron and Ted Stevens prosecution teams where they suborned perjury, DOJ lawyers suborned perjury of their star witness in the Ted Stevens trial which was reversed and thrown out because of it. The Stevens conviction, which cost him his seat in the Senate, was thrown out because an investigation ordered by a judge discovered that they had suborned perjury of the star witness! Some people think that the prosecutors here are making Gates lie.

This is incredible, what is being alleged. And it’s being alleged because some of the same prosecutors are on Mueller’s team that did it in the Stevens case and the Enron task force. So we’ll just have to wait and see.

But the point about Mueller having enough on Manafort without needing Gates, the reason that’s important is, if he’s got enough to send Manafort away for essentially the rest of his life and Manafort still isn’t flipping, then one of two things is true: Either Manafort, who only worked for Trump less than three months, is the most loyal, the most devoted person in the world. Either Paul Manafort so loves and appreciates Trump that he’s willing to go to jail for the rest of his life to protect him, or he doesn’t have anything to flip with!

And if you ask me, it’s the latter. If Mueller’s got Manafort dead to rights and dead to rights means jail for the rest of your life but that you can get out of it by telling Mueller what you know about Trump colluding with Russia or whatever Trump might have done that’s criminal, why wouldn’t you do it? How could he possibly be so loyal to somebody he didn’t even know very much and only worked for for less than three months?

Would you go to jail for the rest of your life for somebody? What if they promised to provide for your family the rest of your life? I can’t imagine it. Would any of you in this audience go to jail for the rest of your life, even in your mid-sixties, in an act of loyalty to somebody, even somebody that’s president? I think what it means is that Manafort doesn’t have anything on Trump. Manafort wasn’t there long enough.

None of this stuff that he’s been accused of doing happened at any time he worked for Trump or was in Trump’s campaign service. We don’t know what people have. I mean, we don’t, but it seems to me the logical conclusion here is that Manafort hasn’t flipped ’cause he doesn’t have anything to flip with. We shall see.

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RUSH: We now know what the response from the Trump legal team was.

“President Trump’s lawyers rejected [Mueller]’s latest terms for an interview in the Russia investigation,” and are “seeking a narrower scope.” (chuckles) I hope nobody’s surprised by this. Did anybody really think Trump was gonna agree? This is all part of a plan here to appear to be cooperative and make it look like Mueller is the obstacle. They’re running a political campaign against Mueller because that’s what this is.

There’s nothing legal about this.

Trump’s not gonna be indicted; he’s not gonna be impeached.

This is a political process launched by the deep state to get rid of Donald Trump, and it is proceeding full-speed ahead. It hasn’t slowed down. It hasn’t changed directions. It hasn’t lost any momentum. The effort here is to get rid of Donald Trump, somehow, some way, and so Trump and his team have joined this as a political fight, and that’s why they’re out there doing what they can to discredit Mueller and his team because it is precisely a political fight.

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RUSH: From TheHill.com: “Midterms Pose Dilemma for Mueller — Special counsel Robert Mueller has a midterms problem. With the elections less than three months away, Mueller is running out of time to issue more indictments –” Oh, I see. (laughing) Mueller’s running out of time to tell us what he’s got that’s gonna force Trump out of office! That’s what this means.

“With the elections less than three months away, Mueller is running out of time to issue more indictments or announce other major developments in his Russia probe without opening himself up to accusations of attempting to influence Election Day.” (laughing) Of course Mueller wouldn’t be. No way. Yes, Mueller has to be very careful that what he does doesn’t look like he’s attempting to influence the election. (laughing) They really think we’re stupid. They must just think that we’re a bunch of blithering idiots here.

But the real key here is that Mueller’s only got three months to show us what he’s got. We’ve waited patiently. Folks, I know I’m sometimes funny. But I’m not trying to be funny here. I’m telling you the media seriously is all-in on the Russians colluding. They have been so immersed in this for so long that they now literally believe it. And they think Mueller is going to produce whatever it is they think he’s got that’s gonna force Trump out of office. That’s why they’re hanging on everything to do with this investigation.

So Mueller has a midterms problem. Elections are less than three months away, and he’s running out of time to either issue more indictments or announce other major developments without opening himself up to allegations of attempting to influence Election Day.

“It’s a challenge that has befallen previous federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials, to the point that they now typically refrain from taking prominent actions that could have political ramifications within 60 days of a major election.”

Has anybody ever heard of the name James Comey? What in the world are they talking about here? Anybody ever heard of Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok Smirk, Lisa Page, Bruce Ohr, Shelley Ohr, Susan Ohr, Freddie Ohr, Christopher Steele, the whole list of ’em. They’re running out of time so that they won’t be seen as trying to affect the outcome of an election? What about proclaiming Hillary Clinton innocent before they even interviewed her?

What about Comey assuming the powers of Loretta Lynch because she screwed up and met with Slick Willie on the tarmac in Phoenix? What about a FISA warrant based on a bogus dossier to start an investigation into the Republican presidential nominee? And The Hill wants us to believe that law enforcement is very, very careful. Very careful. In fact, they dial down their daily activities so as not to be seen influencing the outcome of an election.

Yeah. And then when that election goes opposite the way they intended, then they get in gear to try to reverse it! Which is what we’ve had to put up with for the last year and a half. See, I think this is bogus. I think Mueller has things timed perfectly. If everything goes as planned, as we get close to the actual midterm elections, Mueller is gonna have a conviction of Manafort, there’s gonna be another Manafort trial starting in the District of Columbia in September. That’s still out there on the horizon. And then Mueller will be able to leak elements of his upcoming report to the media so as to shape the election as much as possible.

That’s what’s gonna happen! Does anybody have any doubt about this? You get your Manafort conviction — hopefully, I mean, that’s what they’re hoping. You get another Manafort trial where whatever dirt is made public will be widely known. And everybody knows Mueller has to write a report. The report goes to Rosenstein, who then determines who else sees it, goes up to Congress. There’s no requirement that the report be released. There’s no law.

Now, of course, even if this one ultimately isn’t — although it will be — it’s gonna be leaked like crazy. I mean, Mueller’s probably already started writing it. This investigation’s gone on a year and a half. Certain elements of it are wrapped up. And I’m sure that the writing staff on Mueller’s team is already working on drafts of the report, certainly those areas where they’ve wrapped up. And it wouldn’t take much to leak.

And if the report is going to say that Donald Trump was dangerously irresponsible, that Donald Trump and his son engaged in activity which could be seen by some as to have been colluding — didn’t have to allege anything. Just criticize Trump for his lackadaisical behavior, for his inattention to detail. It wouldn’t take much to cast doubt and a pall over Trump. And anybody thinks that’s gonna happen needs to go back to sleep and get out of the bed the right way, because that is almost guaranteed axiomatic.

And my thought is the timing for Mueller is working out perfectly! And you’ll notice this piece here at TheHill.com is to set Mueller up as the king of virtue and integrity. Robert Mueller wouldn’t do anything to affect the outcome of an election. He wouldn’t do anything that would reflect poorly on the Department of Justice. Blah, blah, blah. And then if there are leaks that give away some of the report that are critical of Trump, or that is critical of Trump, the Drive-Bys are not gonna worry about where three-week came from. So Mueller’s not gonna get ripped to it.

You think this is wrong, Mr. Snerdley? You people better be loaded for bear because I guarantee this is what’s gonna happen. You’re gonna have whatever happens in this Manafort trial, then the next one, and then leaking the report, all that can easily happen in the next 90 days. And for good measure, Comey ought to come back out and exonerate Hillary again. You know, maybe sometime around October 25th. (interruption) I don’t know if Comey’s under investigation. I tell you who I wish was under investigation is Dianne Feinstein.

You know, this web — she has had a relationship with the ChiCom government, and her husband has, she’s had spies and moles from the ChiCom governor on her staff, driving her around, and nobody seems interested in this. Again, there’s no evidence of any collusion whatsoever.

There’s no evidence the Russians had any spies on the Trump campaign. There is evidence galore that all of that and more was happening throughout the Democrat Party and the Democrat National Committee. Hillary Clinton, Dianne Feinstein, who knows who else. And it’s all being ignored. There is no investigation of this.

And I’m gonna tell you, this is the great missing piece is where the hell is the DOJ investigation of Hillary Clinton and the DNC? Where is it? I still maintain, as many people are, that Trump could blow all of this up by declassifying everything Devin Nunes and the boys over at the House Intelligence Committee want to see (that Rosenstein and the others are hiding and refusing to release) about the origins of this investigation and what really went on with the FISA application to get the warrant to spy.

Carter Page and what actually was going on with all of that? Trump could make that public this afternoon, if he wanted to. I am curious to know if he’s, at some point, going to strategically decide to do it. Speaking of that, do you remember Adam Schiff? We had audio of this. I should have told… Cookie, don’t go get it now. I don’t have time to get in there. I’m way behind as it is. But in the midst of doing show prep today, I remembered Adam Schiff. You know, we’re talking about the Don Trump Jr. meeting with the Russians at Trump Tower.

Adam Schiff had a meeting with Russians that was videotaped and audiotaped. He had a prank played by a Russian comedian. Remember? A Russian comedian called Adam Schiff claiming he had nude photos of Trump from that hotel room, and you should have heard Adam Schiff on that call. He was taking it very seriously, calling it “kompromat,” which is the Soviet, the communist term, the Russian word for “compromising material.” Schiff began the call by thanking “the chairman.”

He was told that it was a Ukrainian politician, and he was talking to the chairman of some high-ranking Russian organization. He began by thanking the chairman for his time and warning him that Russian spies were probably listening to the call. So he said, “I would caution that our Russian friends may be listening to the conversation. I wouldn’t share anything over the phone with me here that you wouldn’t want them to hear.” The prankster said, “I don’t think that will impact on our investigation.”

The fake Russian expert “claimed that the Ukrainian government had obtained recordings and documents that proved Putin was blackmailing Trump.” He had naked photos taken during the affair between Trump and a Russian prostitute urinating on the bed or whatever it was, plus a famous Russian model. “He also claimed the Ukrainians recorded secret meetings between a Trump campaign aide and a famous Russian singer-turned-spy that took place at a nonexistent Mafia hangout in Brooklyn.”

Adam Schiff got totally punk’d by a Russian comedian. He believed every bit of it. The audio of it aired and so forth. He was willing to talk to the Russians! My point about it is he was willing to talk to ’em. He thought he was! He thought he was talking to Russians, and he thought he was getting dirt on Donald Trump — and Trump didn’t even do that! But they all want you to think that he did.

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RUSH: Rudy Giuliani earlier today was in the media and had this to say about the Trump team’s rejection of the request by Mueller on the scope of an interview.

GIULIANI: We do not want to run into the November elections. So back up from that; this should be over with by September 1st. We have now given him an answer. He obviously should take a few days to consider it. But we should get this resolved. If there’s gonna be an interview, let’s have it; if there’s not gonna be an interview, then let him write his report.

RUSH: (laughing) It’s up to you whether there’s gonna be an interview or not! What do you mean, “If there’s gonna be an interview, let’s have it; if not, let’s write the report”? They want it over by September. They’re putting pressure on Mueller here. Mueller wants to talk to Trump because he wants to set a perjury trap. People say, “No, Rush, that can’t be because Mueller’s smart enough to know that Trump knows that’s gonna happen. Trump wouldn’t fall for it and Mueller knows it.”

No, folks. No. There’s no prosecutor alive, particularly of Mueller’s stature, that doesn’t think he can get anybody in a perjury trap. It actually isn’t that hard. Talk to anybody who knows. You ask Trump a series of questions about X. Get his answers. They could be all truthful. Then you go talk to somebody else about the same things. If there’s any variance in the answers, you accuse one of them in lying. In this case, they would accuse Trump. That’s how you do it. All you need is a variance, and you can charge lying to investigators, and bammo!

You’re off to the races on a process crime.

That’s why I can’t believe they’re gonna do this anyway.

But they’re making it look like they’re interested in it because they’re trying to make it look like they’re trying to be cooperative. So Mueller sets forth the terms. They reject; they counter. Mueller rejects. Rudy says, “Look, let’s either do it or not do it. We gotta finish this by September 1st because of the midterms coming in November. Write the report.” Remember, you gotta judge all this now politically, not legally. Even though everybody’s lawyers here, the special counsel is an entirely political procedure here.