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 senator sessions laughter.

joining me, rnc national committeeman, former chairman of the republican hours association, randy evans. joining us tonight as well, he served in three presidential administrations as chief political advisor to the house republican leadership as well, the dean ed rollins. it's good to have you both here. let's start with you, randy. where are the republicans going here? you would think the democrats controlled the senate, the house. my god, what is passing for leadership in your party? randrandy: we have seen the administration come back from a foreign trip and go on the offense. you had an attorney general today opt for a public senate

intel committee hearing so everybody in the united states could hear exactly what was going on. and you had a man who expressed righteous indignation at former colleagues who thought they could kick hip around when he knew the truth. you are seeing offense because the senate republicans and house republicans have not been able to get the job done. i think it administration is stepping forward to go on offense. lou: if it's offense it looked like defense today and not have well constructed defense on the part of the house leadership and the senate leadership in particular. ed: the sad part is jeff sessions is a fabulous how being. served 20 years in the senate being lectured by someone who has been there for three months. lou: what is so outrageous is

she didn't have the understanding of who she was. ed: we operate on this media attack on this gentleman. the way it looked like he had been in cahoots with the russians. he barely even met them or didn't meet them. he recused himself for what reason? because he's an honorable man. i watched this hearing today. there is not a single item that convinced me he should have stepped aside. if he had not stepped aside the intelligence committee and the department of justice to do the investigation. lou: what i don't see around the president and i'm delighted jay- jay sekulow joined his defense team. they still don't have a mess

anding direction within the communications department. they are missing so many components, it's frustrating to watch. john koskinen is still director of the intern revenue service after all the ignorant and corrupt carried out against american citizens. this has got to stop. there has got to be an offense. but i'm not talking about rhetoric. i'm talking about moving the government ahead. randy: i think the congress has to move to offense. they can't continue to play in a densive posture when they have a majority? in the house and senate.

they need to go on offense. they played defense enough. they let this thing get out of control, and the on way to solve it is to push back with the majorities you have to get the job done. lou: three administrations you have been in. can you ever manage a party that controls the house and the senate and the white house permitting this kind of hearing by an oversight committee which oversees 17 intelligence agencies, and it's clear our intelligence agencies failed to stop the intervention of the russians, and it's the oversight committee investigating the interventions rather than the intelligence agencies. ed: the story that needs to be told is the russians have been here and tried to get into he state to get their voter stuff.

the most telling thing to me is there are 10,000 lawyers in the justice department. why aren't they out there trying to investigate. this taken outrange. 17 intelligence agencies, who are they, what are they doing. so far it has been about us and what we didn't do as oppose to what they said we had done. sessions had outrageous experience, 12 years in the reagan white house. they harassed him. they never gave him a vote. lou: the republican party is chairing that hearing. and they are acting like there is complicit as the dems in the savage character assassination against a man who served-them

for 20 years. randy: it's insanity. lou: why doesn't the president and his administration stand up and bring them to heel? >> i think he is. i think he's bringing in the tall don't say we are going to get the job done one way or the other. lou: i support the president of the united states as much or more than anybody watching this broadcast. and i have got to tell you it's time for the rhetoric to end and to move the country forward and to go not re torically on offense, but to start pushing back against those who have this government upside down. why can't that happen? ed: it needs to happen. the bottom line is mcconnell needs to bring a healthcare bill to the president and a tax bill an has to do it quick.

26 days to go before the august recess. if they don't get it done they won't get taxes and healthcare done. they basically better get it done. lou: what do you think about the president's decision to give reince priebus until independence day to straighten things out at the white house? >> he's starting to say enough is enough. and i think he's doing what good leaders do. they set their markers for you to accomplish. and if you can't get the job done, we'll get somebody who can. lou: i can't imagine the frustration the president feels dealing with paul ryan, mitch mcconnell and the others who are like praying hounds who are not supporting him, they are just sitting there like they are in the republican party, i guess.

ed: every dave he does something positive, something negative comes in the news stories the next day. he did infrastructure. what stories have you seen about infrastructure? lou: the messaging'ing is a mess. -- the messaging is a mess. ed: my colleague is rich, he can afford to it as a volunteer. lou: i'll kick in a few bucks. ed rollins, thank you, sir. a major focus of the hearing. the cowardly comey. insinuation is his game. why didn't he resign if he was so uncomfortable with president trump. >> he could have complained to me at any time if he felt pressured. but i have no doubt would not yield to any pressure. lou: we take up growing concerns

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lou: attorney general jeff sessions insisted his recusal from the russian investigation was all about following the law. >> i recused myself not because of any asserted wrongdoing or any belief i may have been involved in wrongdoing in the campaign, but because a department of justice regulation 28cfr45.2 i felt required it. that regulation states in effect that the department employees should not participate in

investigations of a campaign if they served as a campaign advise -- advisor. lou: joining us to assess the sessions hearing. george washington university law professor, jonathon you are live. is the attorney general right about the reason for his recusal? >> i think he is. he made the point that he constructive live recused himself virtually from the beginning because he was fairly certain he would have to recuse himself. that was one of the more interesting things about the hearing. i agree with him that that regulation does militate heavily in favor recusal. but he said as soon as he became attorney general, he was already imposing on himself essentially a recusal and he virtually saw

nothing from the russian investigation. lou: much of today's hearing was a result of the inseason waitions and innuendo of -- the innuendo of james comey that motivated the attorney general to ask to testify in open hearing before this committee. let's turn if we may and listen to senator cotton on these leaks, including those by the former fired f.b.i. director james comey. >> are these leaks serious threats to our national security and the department of justice taking them with the appropriate degree of seriousness and ultimately prosecute them to the fullest extents of the law? >> some of these leaks as you well know are extraordinarily damage together united states security, and we have got to restore a regular order principle. we cannot have persons in our

intelligence agencies, our investigative agencies or in congress leaking sensitive matters on staff. so this is i'm afraid will result -- already is resulting in investigations, and i fear that some people may finds that they wish they hadn't leaked. lou: i don't know if his fears extend to james comey. i think their relationship is somewhat tested at this point. does james comey, do you believe he's in they will jeopardy as a result of having leaked what is obviously the work product while he was the director of the f.b.i.? >> i disagree with a number of legal analysts who say this isn't a leak because it is not classified. you can have a leak that's not classified it happens all the time.

a leak is an unauthorized disclosure of information. the f.b.i. has always adopted under director comey. this seems to be squarely within that definition. he prepared this on an f.b.i. computer it's about pane ongoing f.b.i. investigation. he put it in his file. he told his staff about it because of his concern abo the impact of the investigation. lou: do you think be prosecuted? >> i think it's unlikely he will be prosecuted. there are senators who say they think this is government property. it allows the f.b.i. to go to court. most f.b.i. agents sign an agreement that says they can be brought to into court for

disclosure of unauthorized information. lou: how much jeopardy did he place his friend in that leaked this to the "new york times." >> some experts say comey didn't remove anything because his friend just read from one of the memos. but if you look at it closely, it sounds like he gave the professor the memos and he read from them. as for the professor. i think he will be a collateral player either way. the white house is suggesting there might be other leaks connected to director comey. that would be a true lire startling development that would put him in peril. lou: your judgment and attorney general sessions assertion of appropriateness as the attorney

general to refuse to answer questions about conversations between the president and the attorney general. >> i heard it a bit differently than how it's being treated. it seems to me that he was referring to executive privilege. i think the democrats were right procedurally. the white house counsel should have sent a letter saying we are invoking executive privilege over any communications within the oval office and the attorney general. if they said that. they would have been squarely within the claim executive privilege made by prior administrations. administrations. administrations. these communications fall squarely within communications previous administrations say fall within the privilege. louprivilege.lou --

>> it was my best judgment a fresh start at the f.b.i. was the appropriate thing to do. lou: rachel campos-duffy and mark simone join me. mark simone join me. they take

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lou: house speaker paul ryan seems to never miss a chance to under cut the president. here he is arguing against the firing of the special counsel robert mueller. >> i think it best thing to do is let robert mueller do his job. the best vindication for the president is to let this investigation go on independently. that's the best thing to do and that's what i hope will happen. lou: joining me to talk about the republican leadership and paul ryan.

radio talk show host mark simone, and rachel campos-duffy. rachel, what do you make of paul ryan? what is that, please, mr. president. mitch mcconnell, let's walk blindly into the alligators at the edge of the swamp. rachel: it's important to know these hearings would not have happened if the republicans, the republican chairman of these committees had not allowed them to happen. i don't believe for a second with as little evidence put forward about collusion. i don't believe in a second in the reverse situation a democrat in charge, they would have never let the hearings go through. this is a classic case of republicans trying to be so independent and trying to appeal

to i don't know what, the media? it doesn't matter. lou: rachel, i'm absolutely thrilled. you are speaking truth to the american people. you could versus easily have been partisan and said that they weren't. but said exactly the truth. you left out mcconnell and ryan and the role they played. but this is ridiculous. for two republicans controlling the senate and the house, and they let this affront against truth and civility and decency go forward. >> this is the swamp. paul ryan is the reverse program every what we should be doing -- reverse barometer of what we should be doing. we see the trial and investigation and we still don't know what the crime is. lou: there is no crime.

the other part that's upside down is straightforward. these are two oversight committees. they oversee the intelligence community. 17 intelligence agencies. instead of the agencies producing the evidence which is what they are paid to do, it's the committee in the house and the committee in the senate trying to play at what, i don't know other than partisan assassination by a terrific public service -- public servants like the attorney general. >> i don't know if it's technically legal obstruction if the crime never occurred. lou: rachel? rachel: the real crime is the leak. with regard to senator sessions, what happened to him at the confirmation hearing where he was accused of racism. here at the hearing they are

accusing him of treason, collusion with the russians. this is why good men and women say i don't want any part of this. it's game playing. the republicans won a majority in the house and senate to get and move an agenda forward. and letting these hearings go forward that are so soup it. i was home with the kids today. i had to force myself to watch them. they were so boring. i wanted to be out playing with the kid. i don't think a lot of people are watching. they see through this. i have 8. i have 8. lou: she is trying to get us to believe she wanted to go outside and play with the kids. rachel: better than these stupid hearings, lou. mark: argue the policy, present a better policy. why do you just try to take down

the whole executive branch two months into an administration. lou: how do you get into a situation where a fighter, donald trump who showed the republicans how to win has to defend himself because the leadership of the house are gutless wonders. it's astonishing. rachel: this is a conspiracy headed by barack obama and jal are you jared to jump up the system and the chairmen of these committees are taking the bait. mark: i would say they are conspirators. one thing about the swamp, they are loyal. rachel campos-duffy, thanks so much. up next, the special counsel on russia is promoting a leftist agenda. he on highered four folks at the

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lou: deputy attorney general rod rosenstein testified ahead of attorney general jeff sessions. he testified the apoint of a special counsel despite growing conflicts of interstating he sees no reason to fire mueller. >> under the regulation special counsel mueller may be fired only for good cause. if there were good cause, i would fire him. if there wasn't, it wouldn't matter what anyone says. lou: senator manchin point out the president could fire rosenstein for any reason at all. it doesn't matter he could still fire rosenstein and that might just lead to the firing if the president so desired, robert mueller.

joining me now, constitutional law professor at south texas college of law. josh blackman. it's always good to see you. why is the attorney general making a statement like that that he knows to be certainly -- sort of suggests it's not not a unittary president which means the president has absolute control over the executive branch. >> the fact of the matter is the president is unittary and has the ultimate authority to control prosecutions. if he ordered rose' tine to fire mierl and he refused, trump could fire rosenstein. from a sconce ziewtional perspective, it's incorrect.

lou: we heard james comey talking about this nonsense that the f.b.i. is totally independent. he was giving a speech in boston where he said you have got me for another 6 1/2 years where he didn't understand the president of the united states could fire hip. now we have this example of rosenstein talking big and way too big for his brichs. >> the fact of the matter is almost everyone in the executive branch serves at the president's pleasure. this prosecutor, mueller, this associate attorney general rosenstein, even sessions. if president trump asked for the resignation, you resign. if he says you are fired, you are fired. from a constitutional perspective, that's all there is to it. lou: mueller's first four big

hires are democratic donors, and one significantly so, and one being a throwback to watergate, a democratic prosecutor. why should not not be the basis for someone to say this isn't going well, you are not even observing the quaintest idea of no conflict of interest. >> lou, you raise a good point. so far the attorney general sessions and rosenstein said they have confidence and faith in them. but you can expect as this prosecution unfurls and goes further to who knows where, the president may choose to reevaluate this. ultimately this is trump's call. it's not rosen sign's call. from a constitutional perspective it's how this issue will be resolved.

lou: why in the world would the deputy attorney general, the number two man in the justice department with the f.b.i. director reporting to him. why would he talk so big and so aggressively and so assertively to the intelligence committee without at least a tip of the hat to the reality of the law and the political reality which would suggest he had best not depend on that argument of cause? >> you know, lou, i think rosenstein feels burned. he was on your show the evening comey was fired. rosenstein wrote this letter saying we are firing comey because of his grandstanding with the hillary clinton investigation. and trump went on tv and said no, i fired him because of

russia. lou: it comes down to rosenstein is -- he could be accused somewhat fairly of grandstanding himself before the committee. let me turn to sessions and his argument on executive privilege or the appropriateness in his determination of whether or not he would answer the committee questions about the personal communication between the president and himself saying it's just not appropriate and he will make those judgments. we went to some length to explain to it seemed to me the senators that, one, he is the president's lawyer. he is to counsel the president as well as leave the justice department, and he will make those decisions as he sees fit within the constitution. is he direct? >> he is direct. there are two times of privileges.

one is the regular attorney-client privilege. if any lawyer talks to a client he has the duty not to disclose that unless the client allows it. but executive privilege dates back to president jefferson who refused to provide documents to aaron burr who was accused of manslaughter. president trump hasn't yet invoked this executive privilege. but what i think sessions was saying is this is probably stuff the president will invoke the privilege on. i'm not going to spill the beans here. let the president invoke it and then we can talk about it. sessions was probably trying to prevent something being leaked that the president wanted to protect. lou: north korea released a detained american student.

as secretary mattis said -- >> north korea's reckless rhetoric and provocative actions continue despite u.s. sanctions. lou: we take up the growing threat from north korea as well as the deep state working hard against the trump administration to the point of subject version. but when family members forget, trust angie's list to help. [ barks ] visit angieslist.com today.

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lou: this is a sad story. an american college student has been medically evacuated from north korea. he's in a coma. he was detained for 14 months. he's on his way back home to cincinnati to be be reunited with his family. he was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster. he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. north korea says he has been in a medically induced coma for a full year. here to discuss the role of the

north koreans. let's start with first the russian hearings today, the senate intelligence committee. i have been saying to this audience that this is one of the most upside down things i have ever seen in modern american government. you have an oversight committee investigating interventions, incursions by russian intelligence into the u.s. elections rather than the 17 intelligence agencies they oversee developing the evidence and putting forward the case. it is strikingly absurd. it's mindless and it so far has been ineffective to the ultimate degree. tone tony: a monumental weaflt of time. i write spy fiction. i have written books about

spying. this wouldn't make it past the first editor at a book company. this is insane. to your point, there are things itt out there that have shown there was clear and massive violations, the 702 statute element. by our intelligence agencies that is unanswered. lou: greater crimes uncovered are those of our intelligence agencies. tony: : and being encouraged by politicians who ran it. but the white house needs to get on the offensive. there is a purple full of bad things the intelligence agencies need to go after. lou: targets of investigation. who should be prosecuted?

there is not one of these committees working against a democratic target. people don't even talk about that. this is a republican house. a republican senate. tony: i don't get it. susan rice, ben rhodes, john brennan, they all participated at some level with unmasking. lou: they are certified liars. two of them confessed liars. tony: you are talking about attorney general sessions being pilloried for having been in the same room with an ambassador. that could make you and i a co-conspirator with the russians simply by walking down. you have got to get a balance here. what are we doing? playing this dramatic spy drama that wouldn't make it five minutes as an episode of the man

from uncle. lou: this is a subversion of the white house and all too cooperative republican establishment figures. and big money donors giving smaller people names come to minds like speaker paul ryan excess courage when they should be instead following the president of the united states. so what does the administration do here? tony: lou, they have to get on the offensive. attorney general sessions was amazing today. but it was on the defensive. you can only be on the defensive so long but start losing the war. there is a war, they need to win the war. lou: up next, attorney general sessions warning leaks pose a

major threat to our national security. >> we have got to restore a regular order principle. we cannot have persons that are intelligence agencies, investigative agencies or in congress leaking sensitive matters. lou: congressman andy business s joins us next.

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lou: in our online poll we asked you is it type for the national republican leadership to end the so-called russian collusion investigation which has become an excuse for baseless, vile attacks against the trump presidency. 96% of you said yes it is the time. my next guest says it's imperative republicans defend the president. joining me, house judiciary member congressman and andy big. it's peculiar to watch a sitting attorney general being assaulted and slurred by a republican-led committee.

it is at the very least it make the republican party look cowardly and at the very best, stupid. how much more of this do we have to put up with? >> you can't say it any better than that. we need to be defending the president and his administration. we need to go on the offensive. there are plenty of things to investigate. we have leaks to investigate. we have to turn the tables on those who are political enemies. those who are attacking this presidency are doing it with a true idea of delegitimizing the president and they would love nothing more than to remove this president from office. we have to recognize that, we need to fight and be on the aggressive side of things. lou: congressman brad sherman, democrat from california, a man who years ago i thought was a pretty good guy turns out to be

nothing more than a hack, a left-wing hack talking about impeachment of the president of the united states. it is first of all, to me the democrats have gone to a place not even i thought they would ever go. they have become radicalized. they are indifferent to civility, and they are putting partisan petty politic ahead of almost everything. did you ever anticipate you would see this depth to which they have sunk? >> it's hard to conceive that 6 months ago before president trump was elected some of them were talking about impeachment. but they want to remove president trump from office. they have no evidence, there is nothing there, they keep trying to light wet wood and all they get is smoke, there is no fire. yet they never give up. lou: does speaker ryan ever say

to you in the rank and file of the house, this is why we let this move forward. this our big strategy. this is the reason that we are willing to look like fools, and to simply enable the opposition that has become the emissary of if not the enemy, the office of the presidency. >> we want to get through president trump's agenda. while we work on that we let the other side set the narrative. and that's a problem. for them the narrative is always the same. it's never about issues or policy. it's all about donald trump. we are busy trying to get tax reform and repeal of dodd-frank or rein in regulations, the other side is playing a political game.

we have to get better playing both games. lou: what would you think if tomorrow the attorney general jeff seations came forward and announced he appointed a prosecutor to investigate loretta lynch for her role in the clinton campaign and altering the direction of an f.b.i. investigation, announced the prosecution of james comey for leaking federal property and material to the media. would that be sufficiently on the offense for you? >> that would be taking a great big first step to get back on the offensive and grabbing the narrative for ourselves. we have to face the fact there are radicalized media out there that we'll never win over. but that isn't the point. the point is to show the american people who elected donald trump that we won't sit buy and let his presidency be destroyed. lou: thank you for joining us tonight.

that's it for us. christopher ferrell and kimberly guilfoyle among my guests tomorrow night. we thank you for joining us. good night from new york. kennedy is next. kennedy: attorney general jeff sessions cops out swinging. did he put the james comey investigation to bed? obamacare in a death spiral. hear how fast it' reportedly collapsing. and an american held hostage in north korea finally on his way home. did dennis rodman have anything to do with it? there was plenty of heat in the congressional sessional. members of the senate judiciary committee were ready to give