it to smell like? team spirit? i understand he's from the northwest. thank you so much for watching the show tonight. i will see you tomorrow evening, have a beautiful one. follow me on twitter and instagram at kennedy nation. i'll follow you with my eyeball in your dreams, tonight. lou: good evening, attorney jarynal jov general jeff sessions asked to testify, today in a historic encounter with some of the dems who falsely implied that attorney general had somehow colluded sessions forcefully slapped down those senators, comey and left wing national media that had repeatedly attacked sessions and trump white house, attorney general ended

that today, as nation's top law enforcement officer gave his side of the story, defending himself, the justice department he leads and a president in a hearing that lasted 2 hours and 23 minutes. sessions making it clear, there no evidence for the democratic claims of collusion with russia. as for the dems, they reveal themselves to be, very little more than partisan hacks pursuing their own agenda trying to undermine the trump administration, they were in short be on horan in -- abhor ant in their handers and questioning, catherine herridge with our report. >> suggestion that i participated in any collusion that i was aware of which collusion with the russian government, is an appalling and detestable lie. reporter: testifying before

senate intelligence committee, sessions defending himself and trump administration allegations they colluded with russia. after recusing himself from ongoing probe, sessions said it was not about russia but his position on the campaign, and regulation this more gid his -- forbid his involvement. >> that were problematic and he could not talk about them. what are they? >> why don't you tell me. there are none. i can tell you that for absolute certainty. you -- this is a secret inyou endoleaked about me and i don't appreciate it. reporter: insisting he -- >> my answer of a fair and correct response to the charges, as i understood it. reporter: sessions met with russian ambassador in july and september but not in april last year at washington's

mayflower hotel as reportd. >> you never remember having a conversation or meatin meeting with ambassador kislyak. >> i did not. >> in that even was there ever a private room setting. >> other than represen reception area shut off from i guess main crowd, a couple dozen people. this one. >> i guess, i could say that possibly had a meeting but i still do not recall it. and i did not in anyway, fail to report something in my testimony or in my subsequent letter, intentio intentionaly false. >> described mid february meeting.

>> at that point was in legal jeopardy, i don't think for h he to say that it was an effort to obstruct, i took it at disturbing and concerning. reporter: sessions said that comey never shared thato conversation. >> you first asked director comey what took place. >> i do recall is that i did depor depart and director comey was sitting in front of the president's desk and they were talking. >> did it appear mr. comey felt that the conversation was improper. >> he was concerned about it his recollection of what he said to me about his concern, i don't, is consistent with my re recollection. reporter: and a professor, sharing information from memos where comey documented his conversations with president,

that law school professor is sharing what is described as relevant material with special counsel robert mueller. lou: thank you. and president himself, president trump was focused on issues that matter most to americans, jobs and healthcare. fox news chief white house correspondent john roberts with our report. reporter: president trying hard to stick with his agenda hosting a lunch with leaders in senate on health care, now in midwest, push his work place development agenda but keeping one eye on th on the goings on, on capitol hill. they were happy about testimony, saying he has been impressive and forcefully pushing back against in-- innocent waigdzs of young doing. he seems unconcerned with

events in capitol hill. meeting in wisconsin with more of victims of obamacare. before he left the white house, president made known what he thinks is important issue in this tweeting, attorney general lynch made law enforcement decisions for political purposes, gave hillary clinton a fr a free pass and protection, totally illegal. president taking fire today for a statement made by a friend of his, news max ceo who suggested that president trump was conservatives removal of special counsel robert mueller. >> i think he is considering. >> prompting front page headline some and outrage from democrats. >> we heard a lot of members speak out about it.

reporter: testifying before senate judiciary committee, rosenstein, said any demand to fire him would have to pass a high bar. >> i'm not going to follow any orders, unless they are lawful and appropriate orders. under the regulation, special counsel mueller may be fired only for good cause. >> speaker of house also weighed in. >> i heard so much are rumors, but i think in the best case for president is, to be vindicated by allowing this investigation to go on. >> president's legal team is throwing cold water on the claim, telling fox news that he got his information by watching a member of team on abc's this week, and misinterpreted what he said. >> i can't imagine that issue will arise that is a issue that president would discuss if there was a basis. >> today, ruty sought to clarify his comments. >> i did not talk to the president about the issue, i

do not believe he will fire him, i think if they did fire it would be a mistake, i do believe he does have the legal right to do it. reporter: courses tell fox news that president trump was upset about firestorm rudy ignited and dispatched his comcommunication team to get clarification, and president took aim at press for not checking its facts, fake news is at an all-time high, where is the oapology to me for all of the incorrect stories? >> he has that big cuba policy announcement at end of the week, and on health care, associated press reports that in that lunch with senators today, president described house version of healthcare bill as mean, mean, mean. we have not been able to confirm that language, but one source, did tell fox news that president thought that senate could be more generous with its version of health care bill, lou.

lou: john thank you, john roberts, we're coming right back, a lot to cover again tonight. stay with us. >> attorney general jeff sessions makes clear that comey's recusal are false. >> we'll talk up the dem's witch-hunt against the trump administration, judge andrew napolitano will join us next. >> president trump still focused on people's priorities. >> announced yesterday that two million people have dropped out of obamacare, two million additional, they are leaving fast. leaving fast. lou: that story and more

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lou: attorney general jeff sessions shot down allegations there is some secret reason why he recused himself, as james comey insinuated, here is sessions. >> this is secret inyen doe

leaked about me, i don't efficien appreciate it. i try to give my best and truthful answers to any committee i have appeared before, this is people suggests that i have been not honest about matters, i have tried to be honest. lou: our next guest said that ter attorney general dispelled charges he misrepresented his scant communications with the russian ambassador. joining us tonight, fox news senior judicial analyst, judge andrew napolitano. i have been anxious to talk with him. >> i thought high shoul he should not appear because of potential conflicts.

he was not appearing at attorney general in charge of a criminal investigation or intelligence investigation, he is recused from home, he appeared as a witness, nevertheless, he did acquit himself very nicely to reasons he was there, did he or did he not mislead congress about his communication with ambassador kislyak. they were scant, routine and without material conversation. the way that questions were worded to him, in which he allegedly made misrepresentations were so vague that almost any answer would have complied with him, i am satisfied with my judicial hat. i am satisfied that he answered as honestly as he could and acquitted and got rid of the issue of any relationship with kislyak. lou: i thought, kamala harris did herself no good today.

>> i don't know what she was trying to accomplish. lou: be more than she reveals she is vap abl capable of being, she should be embarrassed. senator. widen should be embarrassed as well. >> i thought that senator wide know'widen attacks on sessions were too personal. lou: partnership as senator cotton pointed out, not one asked how in the world did russia intervene in our elections? which is purportedly and presumably the reason for the hearings and committee to be investigating.

>> correct, we know how, from an illegal act performed by a contractor for the nsa who revealed an nsa report, she is in jail in georgia. lou: we have to reserve just a little credibility, we don't know that is the case, it was resumed. >> if the document is true, it shows how insidious the russian were attacking web site of 1226 122city and county clerking responsible for tabulating ballots. >> there was an attempt -- >> we don't know if they manipulated numbers there is no evidence. lou: we're told by sources within intelligence community they did not. what is interesting is, we have 17 intelligence agencies,

i want to stay with me, we need your judicial ruling on this. we have 17 intelligence agents, we have two intelligence committees one in house, one in senate be they are investigating russian interference our election. the two congressional hearings, what are they doing? if those intelligence agencies don't know how the russian intervened or who they colluded with, what are we paying them for? >> we don't know what they know. but they certainly did not reveal any knowledge or interest in the russian involvement today, republicans were trying to make jeff sessions look good, and democrats trying to make him look bad. neither were interested in substantive season for having the hearings.

lou: and not to find out the truth. >> i agree with you. lou: find out truth about russia intervention is responsibility of i intelligence committees, two committees that we're watching in i think a appalling display have responsibility of oversight over those 17 agencies, why are they not bringing them to heel? >> they are intimidated. lou: they don't do much. >> you can be intimidated by them, because of what they know about you. that is why they let admiral rogers and get away with saying nothing, but bob mueller will come to rescue, he will tell us -- >> aligned himself, his top, his top hires are all democratic conors. donors. >> that doesn't mean anything. lou: it means a great dealer you kidding.

>> he has a legal. lou: when did you become a polly anna. >> he has a legal responsibility to get to the bottom of this in a way. lou: ethical to not be conflicted, he is conflictd. >> on that we disagree, prosecutors can befriend --friey are all of the time. lou: in this partisan age, you think someone is giving mueller credit for being bipartisan. >> i don't care if he is bipartisan, if he indicts and prosecutes people they are guilty, that is what they are supposed to do. lou: you just under cut our own argument, all prosecutors think their target are guilty. >> right or they wouldn't be the target. lou: give me the crime and evidence. >> oh, i i don' don't know what it is, i know -- >> at what point do we see

that is stupid. >> they could shut the investigations down in a heart beat. lou: you want to get started on president's own party, would you like. >> on that -- >> lot ofy. >> no, we agree. lou: paul ryan and. >> on that we agree. lou: deep state, dems, and g.o.p. >> that i agree, everyone that interrogated jif sessions this afternoon, both parties has one thing in common they all want to get reelected, they don't care about getting to the truth, if we come to said side. lou: i think there is far more at work, i think we're watching a concerted effort to under cut an administration and destroy it. >> fully, agreeed and work we do here is to expose that. lou: unfortunately so many don't take that. >> most are in cahoots with it. lou: thank you. >> thank you.

>> vote in our poll, should trump justice department investigate meetings between bill clinton and former aglynch and james comey? for some reason. these two intelligence committees have not investigated a single democratic outrage. why? >> run by the republicans. >> should they investigate. >> not only should they investigate, justice department should investigate mrs. lynch for miss conduct in office. lou: don't let him sway your opinion. follow he on twitter, facebook, and instagram. breaking news, house overwhelmingly approved legislation making it easier for department of vote rans affairs to -- veterans affairs to fire employees for misconducting and bet protect whistle-blowers, we'll have latest on this coming up after

these words. stay with us.

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lou: president trump accused former attorney general loretta lynch of colluding with the clinton campaign, and he has a lot of evidence to support his view. he tweeted this, a.g. lynch made decisions for political purposes. totally illegal. attorney general jeff sessions put to rest any question about collusion between him and the russians. it was his testimony about loretta lynch that was far more damaging. let's go to senator sessions. he cleared the deck of the dems who wanted to play their silly collusion games.

your thoughts? >> i thought he staunchly defended himself and put to rest any of those accusations. what started out as a russia investigation. which by the way is nothing new. i think the extent of the technology is knew and how they are using it. but the soviet you'veon and russia have been meddling in the united states as far back as the cold war. lou: every dem sitting at the table knew that before that showed up. they used innuendo and insinuation to slur the attorney general and the president of the united states and have continued to do so with not on the energetic help of the dems but far too many republicans as well in the senate and in congress.

don't you think? >> i also think part of that goes to these anonymous source reporting stories that feed into this idea of collusion and they drag it on at the expense of the american people and the public. if anything, the only evidence out there, and these allegations are backed by facts, there were issues with loretta lynch and the clinton campaign. one of the things comb question was most concerned about was the fact that loretta lynch had somehow met with bill clinton on the tarmac in phoenix in 2016, and then there is a piece of evidence we reported on that looked like two political figures were talking about how loretta lynch would put the kibosh on any indictment of hillary clinton. lou: judge napolitano thinks

there is a reason to investigate and prosecute loretta lynch. i think it goes beyond that. i think mueller himself, i don't believe he has committed a crime, but i do think he's acting unethically in bringing in democrats to staff the top of his special counsel team. i believe he is even defying reason and the evidence. he has no crime to investigate. there is no evidence of it, therefore, what the hell is he doing? >> i think that's the question a lot of people are asking. bob mueller is probably one of the longest serving f.b.i. directors in the past. i talked to a lot of people who know him say he's a detailed oriented guy.

>> he had long service in the f.b.i., the justice department, it's what he's doing right now and none of it looks fair or correct. >> there has to be some sort of evidence. and we have yet to see one. >> i oh after evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. there has never been one iota of evidence of this. there has been very little, even in connect on their satellite as the president would call them. >> you and john solomon, you work on all of this with the intelligence community. and even elements of the deep state. if they are so concerned about the possibility of collusion. why is it 17 intelligence agencies -- why haven't they produced the evidence? this thing is entirely upside down. they should have knowledge of

intervention, the how, the why, the evidence of it.

>> i am not stonewalled. i'm following the historic policies of the department of justice. you don't walk into any hearing and committee meeting and reveal confidential communications with the president of the united states. lou: we weigh in on the petulant performance of the senate dems. >> north korea releases a

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investment and wealth management firms in the country. discover how we can help find your unlock. lou: today's hearing provide no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and russia. but that wasn't their purpose. the dems ignored evidence and scandals throughout the obama administration, including, here are just a few. unmasking of trump transition officials, the irs targeting scandal targeting conservatives. no investigation there.

where was the f.b.i.? the operation fast and furious scandal. there the attorney general lied to congress and the claimed falsely executive privilege over 64,000 documents. the attorney general was as a result held in contempt of congress and benghazi, we know what happened there. they lied and lied some more, and no prosecution, no final report from the f.b.i. the clinton email scandal, nothing here, move along. oh, yes, it's just a matter, not an investigation as attorney general loretta lynch put her hand on the scale of justice and apparently the neck of the f.b.i. director. and the justice department of course spying on journalists, including our own james rosen and the associated press and it goes on and on. we are talking about a rancid

stinking swamp that grows. it's not drained yet. joining me to discuss the fallout from today's hearing, olympic media managing editor, katie fratus and matt schlapp. katie, how did in your judgment did the attorney general do today? >> i think jeff sessions was fantastic. he was fired up, aggressive, passionate. you don't see him raising his voice and that force coming from sessions. that speaks from a man speak with a clear conscience standing by his convictions and refusing to be bullied by people in the senate he has known for decades. lou: they are not precip pro kaight. his colleagues for 20 years, he

was one of the most respected senators among the 100. they didn't give a darn. and they attacked like the hyenas they are. and it was awful to watch. matt: i thought john mccain and marco rubio were particularly disrespectful and rough on him. i'm waiting for a democrat to step forward and say there is no there there. lou: dianne feinstein might be that person, calling as she did for an investigation much loretta lynch and her conduct with james comey, calling an investigation a matter. matt: republicans get stuck. we get hog-tied for what we are constitutionally allowed to do. the f.b.i. director serves at the pleasure of the president. the president could have fired

jim comey because he was too tall. any reason he wants. we don't have to give a reason. and we have to stop explaining why. lou: rod rosenstein telling the committee he would not fire him except for cause, as if it was the standard, and it was an independent event. this is not an absolutely independent f.b.i. it's not an absolutely independant special counsel. and they like every person in the executive department of this government are -- report indirectly to the president, period. ends of story, right? >> the thing is a lot of this with mueller is a non-story. it makes you scratch your head

because you are reading between the lines. he didn't talk with trump. no one told him that. it's about ability for them to use this as a sounding board for them to say what they want to say to make their opinions. it doesn't matter what of any

>> some of these leaks as you know are extraordinarily damaging to the united states security. and we have got to restore a regular order principle. lou: attorney barbara smith joins me to discuss the potential discussions for the director leaker next.

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for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™ liberty mutual insurance. lou: there is more trouble ahead for fired f.b.i. director james comey. president trump's legal team gathering evidence of potential comey leaks to the "new york times," some of which date back to manufacture last year. according to a source close to the president's attorneys from top f.b.i. and doj officials dating back to january. joining me to discuss the sessions hearing. the fallout for comey and perhaps loretta lynch as well. attorney barbara smith, former clerk to justice alito.

let's go to the innuendo and insinuations by james comey which were slurs against the attorney general jeff sessions. what do you make of session's standing after the hearing today? >> i think he acquitted himself well today. i like the way he referred to his long career in service saying i used to be a member of this body and i'm offended you are making these accusations against me giving my longstanding history. lou: i have never seen jeff sessions just as angry as anyone would be to be attacked with these baseless charges and worse by comey as insinuated there were other reasons for his recusal that we learned today is pure balderdash.

>> i think anyone in the attorney general's position would be offended, particularly if they thought they did nothing wrong and that came fact hearings today. today. lou: what should the american people make of this, investigating collusion when they are doing neither oversight nor investigation of evidence. and that is after all the responsibility, the duty in fact of the 17 intelligence agencies they have responsibility of oversight over. this so upside down. it's stunning to me. >> we don't know what the intelligence community itself is doing. hopefully they are keeping that secret and conducting their own

investigations. congressional investigations can look more like political witch hunts. i certainly understand that sentiment. lou: the president called it a witch hunt. the intelligence community has been going after the whatever this is for 11 months, their investigation, the committees themselves. it looks like a tired and frankly destructive bad joke on the american people to watch their government behave this way. at what point does the president say to robert mueller the special counsel, we have been entertained, but this is quite enough to the senate and the house led by republicans that this is just turned into an absolute witch hunt, and frankly a horror show in government. >> you know, my mom has a piece of advice about fashion.

just because you can doesn't mean you should. the president could step in and ask the attorney general to halt the special investigation into the russia matters. he could do that. but i'm not sure it would be the best thing for him to do. the political fallout would be significant. now that the special counsel started investigating. lou: we want to see this justice department investigating loretta lynch who diverted the director of the f.b.i. and ordered him to use the word matter rather than investigation and aligned herself with a clinton campaign. how about an investigation of comey who leaked obviously a government work product to a friend, to the new york types. investigator not?

>> the resources of the department of justice are back. to the extent the president thinks there have bent other criminal wrongdoing. i don't think it's an either/or choice. they can conduct all those investigations to get to the bottom of it. lou: attorney general jeff sessions fending off the dems and defending the president's america first agenda. >> the people of this country expect an honest and transparent government, and that's what we are giving them. this president want to focus on the people of this country to insure they are treated fairly and kept safe. 's list, we believe there are certain things you can count on, like what goes down doesn't always come back up. ♪

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lou: a lot more covering of attorney general jeff session's hearing before the senate up tell committee. we have jonathan turley. and lieutenant colonel tony shaffer joins us. we'll talk about the role of the deep state and the intervention of the russians and the interventions of the other countries as well.

house judiciary committee member andy biggs joins us. and democrats on the senate intelligence committee failed in any way to put attorney general jeff sessions in any kind of jeopardy of collusion. >> the policy is vague -- is based on the principle that the president -- >> i'm not asking about the principle. you would rely on that policy. did you not ask your staff to show you the policy. >> he should be allowed to answer the question. senators will allow the chair to control the hearing. senator harris let him answer. >> thank you. lou: senator harris not doing very well on the subject of