Former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah explained how Russia had already gotten its end of the deal if there was a quid pro quo with the Russian government.
Rocah, who served in the Southern District of New York, joined MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" with Nicolle Wallace on Monday.
Wallace noted Trump's TV attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, seems to believe that special counsel Robert Mueller is only investigating the actions of Trump and his campaign up until election day.
"Yes, and I think that is a very flawed legal strategy if that is what it is," Rocah noted.
"Giuliani seems to have this idea that collusion, as defined in the Mueller probe and what the heart of this investigation is, is only about what happened during the campaign and the election and as long as they didn't collude and make a specific agreement ahead of time -- that Trump would get his Trump Tower and Putin would get relief from sanctions -- as long as they didn't do that during the election, it's okay," she explained. "I don't think that's right at all."
"I think part of why they're worried about that is the whole idea of bribery and the way the bribery statutes are written, it's much simpler to make a case like that once someone is an elected official," she continued. "So once Trump is president, if he is actually making deals at that point, you know, you're looking at a whole different ball game."
"I think the whole thing is problematic for them though and maybe Giuliani doesn't understand this, that it's all one big conspiracy," Rocah explained. "If there was a quid pro quo, it doesn't matter really when the negotiations began or ended. What matters is what's there an intent to give something, namely relief from sanctions, in exchange for getting a Trump Tower Moscow."
"Russia got their payout in the form of sanctions relief," Wallace noted. "And we know that they were trying to hide all of their efforts to do that. [Jared] Kushner tried to set up a back channel. [Mike] Flynn discussed sanctions relief and lied about it, we know he lied. "
"What sounds like you're laying out perfectly is that Russia has gotten its end of the deal," Rocah noted. "That's done."
"So if Russia got its end of the deal, why is that? Is it because Trump truly believes this is the best way to make foreign policy? Or is it because he's been promised something?" Rocah wondered. "And if he's been even not explicitly promised, but if the motivation behind him making those decisions is because he's getting something personally out of it or already did in the form of election help, that's, in my mind, a crime and an impeachable offense."
Watch:
